In 2010 voters in Florida approved two amendments to the state constitution that aimed to stop legislators from drawing partisan state and federal political districts. The Fair Districts Amendments, which received 63% of voter support, say districts must be compact and contiguous, as equal in population as possible, must follow existing boundaries as closely as possible, and must be drawn to allow minority voters to elect representatives of their choice and to participate fully in the political process. Their goal was to prevent partisan gerrymandering.
Texas lawmakers recently voted to draw new congressional districts and were not shy about saying it was to gain political advantage for Republicans. California's Democratic leaders are planning to try to do the same, creating what you might call a "redistricting arms race." California’s new maps, which are openly intended to favor Democrats, will be put before California voters in a special election on November 4th. The measure, known as Proposition 50, would temporarily set aside the maps drawn by the state's independent Citizens Redistricting Commission, which would normally prohibit such a move.
Congressional redistricting has happened every ten years since the 1960s when a series of U.S. Supreme Court rulings known as the "One person, one vote" decisions that require states to redraw districts after each decennial census to account for population shifts. This created the norm, though there is nothing in the U.S. Constitution prohibiting mid-decade redistricting. That’s something that’s up to each state to decide.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has floated the idea of Florida doing the same. He says Florida "got a raw deal on the census” and that “We have 28 now, we might have 29, 30, 31, maybe. Who knows?” But what do the 2010 Fair Districts Amendments to Florida’s constitution have to say about mid-decade redistricting being done for openly partisan reasons? To get the answer to that question, and some context on these political norm-breaking times we’re in, we talk with the leader of the Fair Districts Coalition when it helped to create and advocated for the passage of the Fair Districts Amendments.
Guests:
Ellen Freidin, Miami-based attorney who helped lead the fight for fair districts amendment that passed in 2010.
Click here to listen to our 2021 conversation with Ms. Freidin about Florida's Fair Districts Amendments.
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