Voting rights groups bring third challenge to Florida’s newly enacted congressional map

A third lawsuit has been filed challenging Florida’s new congressional map.

Common Cause, the League of Women Voters of Florida, and the League of United Latin American Citizens challenged the cartography in a lawsuit filed in Leon County Circuit Court. Representation is provided through the Southern Poverty Law Center, Southern Coalition for Social Justice, and Democracy Defenders Fund.

“The Governor’s ploy to impose maps for an unfair partisan advantage is exactly why voters made it illegal in 2010 — and why we’re going to court,” said Common Cause’s Florida Executive Director Amy Keith.

“This Governor and Republican lawmakers will stop at nothing to put their finger on the scale because they are afraid of being held accountable by the people. We expect the courts to be the adults in the room and honor the Florida Constitution and the will of Florida voters.”

The lawsuit came a day after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation enacting a map his office designed. Florida’s Legislature approved the map in a Special Session last week.

The map, which cuts the number of Democrat-leaning U.S. House Districts from eight to four, was drawn to be “race neutral,” according to the Governor’s staff. The map also breaks apart a majority Hispanic district in Central Florida.

The lawsuit contends the cartography violates the Florida Constitution’s Fair Districts amendment, which voters approved in 2010. That bars drawing maps with partisan intent or which diminish the voting power of minority communities.

The group took note DeSantis released the map to Fox News before submitting it to lawmakers for review and provided a copy with districts colored red and blue.

“When a map is distributed in a red/blue format to the media before being transmitted to the Legislature, and when the Governor’s staff openly acknowledges in committee that there is no new Census data being used to justify a new map, Florida voters can’t help but suspect that this is a partisan gerrymander,” said League of Women Voters of Florida President Jessica Lowe-Minor.

“Floridians have consistently said they are not interested in political gamesmanship within redistricting, which is why they passed the Fair Districts standards overwhelmingly in 2010. We hope the courts restore the rule of law and uphold the Florida Constitution’s explicit prohibition against partisan gerrymandering.”

The lawsuit follows other challenges, one filed by the Equal Ground Education Fund and another by the Campaign Legal Center and the UCLA Voting Rights Project.