The League of Women Voters of the United States issued a press release noting, in part, that on April 22, 2022, the League of Women Voters of Florida joined Black Voters Matter Capacity Building Institute, Equal Ground Education Fund, Florida Rising Together and several individual Florida voters in filing a lawsuit challenging Florida’s new congressional map.
The League and the other plaintiffs argue the congressional map, insisted upon by Gov. DeSantis and approved by the state legislature, was not drawn in compliance with the governing laws surrounding redistricting in Florida presently.
- The map violates a 2010 “Fair Districts” amendment to the Florida Constitution. Amendment 6, which was approved by 63 percent of Florida’s voters, prohibits diluting the opportunity to elect racial and language minorities to Congress. The Amendment also prohibits the diminishment of racial or language minority congressional districts regardless of the intent of the map drawers. The governor’s map violates the Fair Districts Amendment as it cuts Black districts from four to two.
- 2010’s Amendment 6 also prohibits gerrymandering districts to favor a political party, which is exactly what this new map does by giving a particular party an advantage in 20 of the state’s 28 congressional districts.
The lawsuit alleges that the congressional districts in Florida’s proposed map favor one party, which is at odds with both the spirit and the letter of the Fair Districts Amendment, and that Governor DeSantis’ stated goal of a“race-neutral” map has the practical effect of eliminating at least two Black members from Florida’s congressional delegation.
Notably, the League of Women Voters of Florida was a lead plaintiff in successfully suing the Florida Legislature over its legislative and congressional boundaries at the conclusion of the 2012 redistricting process. The League finds no solace in returning to court a decade later to once again fight for fair representation and to ensure the rule of law is followed in the Sunshine State.
Read the full text of the press release.