A Push For Fair Districts
June 12th, 2009 by flanewsA push to change the way Florida’s voting districts are drawn is underway.
The group Fair Districts Florida says the state’s boundaries have been gerrymandered. Gerrymandering is when the party in power divides up voting districts based on demographics to help their candidates win elections. ACLU Spokesman Larry Spaulding said if the districts were divided evenly in Florida, there would be a power shift in the state legislature.
“In Florida it’s likely that the Democrats would be more competitive because the Republicans wouldn’t be able to pick and choose all of the seats. The idea is if you have competitive races, that people get elected because of their ideas, not because they save a seat that has been guaranteed to them by their respective legislature,” said Spaulding.
Fair Districts Florida is gathering signatures to put two constitutional amendments on the 2010 ballot. The amendments would prohibit using political or racial statistics to draw legislative and congressional districts.
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