Amendments take aim at gerrymandering

Amendments take aim at “gerrymandering”

By Deborah Nelson
January 26, 2010

Florida Senate District 4

On November’s ballot, Florida voters will have an opportunity to change the way statewide legislative voting districts are drawn. Legislative Districts define which citizens state and federal House and state Senate seats represent.

A pair of proposed Constitutional Amendments would prohibit drawing districts to favor or disfavor an incumbent or political party. The Amendments would instead require districts be compact, roughly equal in population, drawn along municipal and geographic lines, and prohibit racial and language discrimination.

Sponsored by the nonpartisan group Fair Districts Florida, the amendments are designed to prevent political “gerrymandering:” shaping districts to take advantage of expected vote distributions.

Fair Districts Florida cites gerrymandering as bar to fair electoral competition, because it allows majority interests to shape voting distribution patterns.

Florida Senate District 27

“In the last 6 years, there have been 420 elections for State Senator and State Representative,” Fair Districts Florida sources point out. “Only three incumbents have been defeated!”

Currently, Florida legislators adjust state and Federal congressional voting districts every ten years, after the Federal census. Certain legal ambiguities may allow legislators to redraw districts more often than once per decade, if they so chose, according to New York University School of Law’s Brennan Center for Justice.

The Governor may veto Congressional district changes, but does not have a veto on state legislative district changes.
“Legislators use sophisticated computers, voter registration data and past election returns to predict how particular voters will vote in the future,” according to Fair District Florida.

U.S. Congressional District 1 (in blue)

“Then they choose which voters are most likely to vote for them and their party and place just enough of those voters in "safe" districts -- ones they are sure they can win. Those in charge also pack large numbers of unfavorable voters in into a few districts so the unfriendly voters will have a chance to win in fewer districts.”

Florida law requires that state legislative districts be continuous or overlapping. However, some districts meet this requirement by using narrow land strips to connect relatively distant groups of voters.

“Districts in Florida are bizarrely shaped, often meandering for hundreds of miles or from coast to coast. Communities are carved up so that voters living in the same neighborhood are often represented by different members of Congress or state representatives,” says Fair Districts Florida.

Florida Senate District 2

One case in point is Florida state senate District 27. Meandering between the Gulf and the Atlantic, District 27 crosses five counties and lumps Palm Beach and Fort Meyers under a single Senate representative.

Amendment 5 covers Florida legislature districts, and Amendment 6 covers U.S. Congressional districts. The full text for both Amendments is printed below.

Disclosure: Deborah Nelson serves as President of the League of Women Voters of the Pensacola Bay Area. The League of Women Voters supports Amendments 5 and 6.

AMENDMENT 5: BALLOT SUMMARY: Legislative districts or districting plans may not be drawn to favor or disfavor an incumbent or political party. Districts shall not be drawn to deny racial or language minorities the equal opportunity to participate in the political process and elect representatives of their choice. Districts must be contiguous. Unless otherwise required, districts must be compact, as equal in population as feasible, and where feasible must make use of existing city, county and geographical boundaries.

FULL TEXT: Add a new Section 21 to Article III
Section 21. STANDARDS FOR ESTABLISHING LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT BOUNDARIES
In establishing Legislative district boundaries:

(1) No apportionment plan or district shall be drawn with the intent to favor or disfavor a political party or an incumbent; and districts shall not be drawn with the intent or result of denying or abridging the equal opportunity of racial or language minorities to participate in the political process or to diminish their ability to elect representatives of their choice; and districts shall consist of contiguous territory.
(2) Unless compliance with the standards in this subsection conflicts with the standards in subsection (1) or with federal law, districts shall be as nearly equal in population as is practicable; districts shall be compact; and districts shall, where feasible, utilize existing political and geographical boundaries.
(3) The order in which the standards within sub-sections (1) and (2) of this section are set forth shall not be read to establish any priority of one standard over the other within that subsection.

AMENDMENT 6: BALLOT SUMMARY: Congressional districts or districting plans may not be drawn to favor or disfavor an incumbent or political party. Districts shall not be drawn to deny racial or language minorities the equal opportunity to participate in the political process and elect representatives of their choice. Districts must be contiguous. Unless otherwise required, districts must be compact, as equal in population as feasible, and where feasible must make use of existing city, county and geographical boundaries.

FULL TEXT: Add a new section 20 to Article III
Section 20. STANDARDS FOR ESTABLISHING CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT BOUNDARIES
In establishing Congressional district boundaries:
(1) No apportionment plan or individual district shall be drawn with the intent to favor or disfavor a political party or an incumbent; and districts shall not be drawn with the intent or result of denying or abridging the equal opportunity of racial or language minorities to participate in the political process or to diminish their ability to elect representatives of their choice; and districts shall consist of contiguous territory.
(2) Unless compliance with the standards in this subsection conflicts with the standards in subsection (1) or with federal law, districts shall be as nearly equal in population as is practicable; districts shall be compact; and districts shall, where feasible, utilize existing political and geographical boundaries.
(3) The order in which the standards within sub-sections (1) and (2) of this section are set forth shall not be read to establish any priority of one standard over the other within that subsection.