Fight To End Gerrymandering In Full Swing

Abel Harding

Florida's fight to end gerrymandering is in full swing.  As of July 16, Fair Districts Florida had received 70% of the necessary petitions to put the two Fair Districts Amendments on the 2010 ballot.  (There are two amendments---one for federal races and one for state races.)

Gerrymandering, of course, is when a district is drawn in such a way that the outcome is fairly certain before an election ever takes place.  Many have pointed to Florida's 3rd Congressional District as an example, but the "fix" works both ways.  While Legislators may have written the boundaries to tilt the 3rd District Democratic, they have at the same time drawn Democrats out of Districts 4 and 7, guaranteeing a Republican victory in both of those seats.  Florida's 11th Congressional District, where one county in the district doesn't even physically touch the other counties, is another example.  It was drawn by Republicans in the State Legislature to elect a Democrat to the US House.  But, by lumping Democrats (and Democrat-leaning Independents) in one district, Republican victories were ensured in the surrounding districts.

Fair districts will benefit Republicans, Democrats and Independents alike.  It will require that districts be "compact" and "community-based".  Voters within districts will have a true choice when incumbents are forced to truly compete for re-election.

Visit FairDistrictsFlorida.org today and sign the two petitions.

Tags: 11th Congressional District, 3rd Congressional District, Congress, Corrine Brown, Fair District Florida, Fair Districts, FairDistrictsFlorida.org, Florida Congressional Districts, Kathy Castor, State Politics

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 6th, 2009 at 10:18 AM and is filed under 2010 Races, State Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.