For the last two weeks, as it has redrawn the state’s congressional districts to comply with a court order, the Legislature has shown why Florida needs to take political map-drawing away from the politicians.
The Legislature is in special session to change the 27 districts because evidence at trial showed that in 2012 the Republican-led Legislature used Republican consultants in secret to produce a map most favorable to Republicans. The same thing happened in 1992 and 2002. In 2010, however, voters passed the Fair Districts Amendments to make such gerrymandering of congressional and legislative boundaries illegal.
Yet Republicans still defied the public. The 2012 map continued their deal with African-American Democratic incumbents [Read More]