The League of Women Voters opposes Florida redistricting
Your Turn
Vilia Johnson and Rhonda Peters
Guest columnists
The League of Women Voters of Florida has long advocated for fair legislative districts and in opposition to partisan gerrymandering.
The League was an early and vocal supporter of Florida’s Fair Districts Amendments which were overwhelmingly passed in a bipartisan manner by Florida voters in 2010 with 63% of the vote.
These Amendments to Florida’s Constitution require legislative districts to be compact, contiguous and aligned with geographic boundaries like city limits or county lines.
Further, our state’s Constitution now specifically provides that no Congressional district 'shall be drawn with the intent to favor or disfavor a political party or an incumbent.'
Redistricting congressional seats historically is done by the Legislature once a decade after review of the most recent U.S. Census.
Accordingly, the last round of redistricting in Florida happened just three years ago in 2022 following the 2020 Census.
Now, however, following a demand by President Donald Trump to Republican-dominated state legislatures to create more Republican congressional the Florida Legislature is considering doing its own redistricting when it meets early next year.
The League strongly opposes efforts to redraw Florida’s voting maps outside of the normal redistricting cycle and with no new census data.
It is obvious that current redistricting efforts are about gaining partisan advantage and not about population shifts or good government practices.
While the League believes partisan gerrymandering is wrong when conducted by either party, it is not only wrong in Florida but unconstitutional.
When the people of Florida adopted the Fair District Amendments, they placed a prohibition on partisan gerrymandering in our state’s Constitution. The Legislature must abide by it. To do otherwise, especially mid-decade and without new Census data, ignores the will of the voters, violates our Constitution and flies in the face of our democratic principles of fair voting.
On Nov. 6 at 6 p.m., League of Women Voters of Florida President Jessica Lowe-Minor will present a special program on Florida’s current and past-redistricting efforts and explain the League’s position against mid-decade redistricting.
This Zoom presentation is open to the community as a public service to build voter awareness and understanding of the implications of mid-cycle redistricting. You can register at lwvsrq.org.
We strongly urge our elected representatives to honor their oath and the will of the people as established in our Constitution and to reject the proposed mid-cycle partisan gerrymandering.
People should pick their representatives, not the other way around.
Vilia Johnson and Rhonda Peters are co-presidents of the League of Women Voters of Sarasota County.