"We are ending a year and an era," Pamela S. Goodman, president of the League of Women Voters of Florida (LWV), declared on Wednesday, Dec. 30, immediately following a Leon County judge’s decision to approve the Senate district map favored by her group and other voting rights proponents.
"The timing of this landmark decision is extraordinary,” Goodman went on to say in her prepared statement. “Florida citizens, not our legislature, are ending this year with their voices being heard. Voters (3.1 million strong) put the standards in our Constitution in 2010 that the judiciary is upholding today, ending incumbent protection. 2016 will be a year of Fair Districts, better discourse, and better elections because of the voters."
In his 73-page opinion, Leon County Circuit Judge George Reynolds validated the map proposed by the LWV and Common Cause Florida, in the process rejecting the one put forth by the Republican-led Senate and making for a more balanced distribution of the districts favoring the two parties across the state.
“While the Senate maintains that the selection of Senate Map 1 was without partisan intent and that all safeguards were taken to insulate staff from outside political influence, it is difficult to infer anything other than impermissible partisan intent in the selection of Senate Map 1 based on its political performance,” Reynolds wrote in his decision.
Goodman offered in a follow-up email to the Madison County Carrier on Thursday, Dec. 31, that it didn’t appear that the Senate would appeal Reynolds’ decision to the Florida Supreme Court.
“There is speculation that it may not be,” Goodman emailed.
The plan that Reynolds selected assures fairer, nonpartisan and more compact districts that do not favor incumbents, in keeping with Florida voters’ overwhelming approval of the Fair Districts Now (FDN) sponsored Amendments 5 and 6 in 2010. The FDN is a nonpartisan organization that advocates for redistricting reform. Meanwhile, the LWV, Common Cause Florida and others have been involved in litigation to force adherence to the dictates of the two amendments for about four years.
The new plan that Reynolds approved does not impact Jefferson or Madison counties, which remain in Senate District 3, currently represented by Senator Bill Montford, a Democrat.
As for the congressional redistricting map, which the LWV also challenged and won, the map that the Florida Supreme Court recently approved splits Jefferson County into two parts, with the top portion in District 5 and the bottom portion remaining in District 2. The new congressional map puts Madison County, which was formerly in District 2, entirely in District 5. The new congressional map is not set in stone, however. That’s because U.S. Representative Corrine Brown, who currently holds the District 5 seat, is appealing the Florida Supreme Court’s decision in federal court.
Brown argues that the new east-west configuration of her district, as opposed to the former north-south configuration "combines far-flung communities worlds apart culturally and geographically." Her attorneys on Dec. 29 updated the lawsuit in light of the Florida Supreme Court’s decision, asking again that the federal court void Florida's plan.
“Black voters have reaped substantial benefits by being in a district in which they can elect a candidate of their choice, including having a representative who understands the needs of the community she represents, brings infrastructure money to the district, helps black residents obtain government contracts, brings job fairs to the district and is very accessible to her constituents," the suit argues in part.
The new Senate district map that Leon County Circuit Judge George Reynolds approved on Dec. 30 does not impact Madison or Jefferson counties. The two remain in District 3, which is represented by Sen. Bill Montford. Most of the map changes impact districts in the southern part of the state.