By Diane Dimperio
Updated October 15, 2021. Published August 31, 2021.
Americans pride ourselves on being able to vote for the people who make the laws that affect our everyday life. We value our ability to choose a candidate who represents our values –someone who will stand up for what we think is important.
But our ability to choose our legislators can be affected by where we live. When we vote for our state representative and senator as well as our congressional representative, we are voting as a member of a group called a district. Although districts are designated geographic areas that must be drawn following specific rules, there are multiple ways district maps can be configured. The intent of the rules is to ensure voting equity. But districts can, and often are, drawn in a way that determines which party wins the election. Americans think that voters choose the lawmakers. But districts can be drawn so the lawmakers choose their voters. This is called gerrymandering.
States draw voting districts every 10 years using updated population data from the census. Some states appoint a panel of non-partisan professionals to establish districts, but other states, like Florida, allow the legislature to draw the maps. The Florida legislature will draw maps for three types of districts; state senators, state representatives and congressional (Federal) representatives. The Florida Constitution allows 30-40 districts for state senators, and 80-120 for state representatives. For at least the last 10 years, there have been 40 senators and 120 representatives. For the last 10 years Florida has had 27 seats in the US House of Representatives. Due to the growth we have experienced, Florida will get an extra seat in the US House so starting in 2022 we will have 28 Congressional Districts. All districts are expected to be drawn during the 2022 legislative session, which begins January 11, 2022, and ends March 11, 2022. The Florida Supreme Court must approve the districts for state senators and representatives and the governor approves the congressional districts. If the Supreme Court rules the state maps are noncompliant with the law there will be a special session of the legislature to redraw them. If the districts are rejected a second time the Supreme Court will be responsible for the final map. Since the new districts will be used for the November 2022 elections, legislators will be operating under time pressure, as the date to file to run for statewide elections is June 17, 2022. Potential candidates will need to know which district they will live in to determine if they want to run and begin their campaigns.
In 2010 the League of Women Voters spearheaded an effort to add language to the Florida constitution requiring fair districts. As a result, the redistricting done after the 2010 census was very contentious. The legislature was accused of gerrymandering by a group of voting rights advocates lead by the League of Women Voters of Florida. We filed and won a lawsuit that required districts to be redrawn. However, since this took several years, the gerrymandered districts were used for several elections.
The Florida Senate and House both have committees that will be responsible for drawing the districts. Interim meetings will begin soon and it will be important for the public to get involved to closely monitor the process and provide input. The Senate website says “the process will remain open and transparent with numerous opportunities for public participation. Floridians will have free and easy access to the same redistricting data and applications used by legislators and staff, and the Legislature will accept comments and suggestions gathered from the public in an interactive and inclusive redistricting process.” We citizens need to keep a close eye on our elected officials to ensure they live up to this promise.
Diane Dimperio is the LWVAC Redistricting Contact. If you would like more information or to get involved, please reach out to info [at] lwv-alachua.org.
