Equal Ground <\/a>called the judge\u2019s ruling \u201cdisappointing,\u201d adding, \u201cBlack voters deserve districts that reflect their communities.\u201d<\/p>\nToday\u2019s ruling is deeply disappointing for Black voters and all Floridians who believe in fair representation and accountable democracy. While the Court declined to block Florida\u2019s newly enacted congressional map before the 2026 elections, the Court also made clear that this was not a ruling on the ultimate constitutionality of the map itself.What this means in practice is that voters may once again be forced to cast ballots under a map that is still under serious constitutional challenge for violating Florida\u2019s Fair Districts protections against partisan manipulation. The harm of that cannot be overstated. However, we have filed an appeal and will continue to fight. The Court acknowledged that election timelines and procedural barriers make it difficult to intervene before the 2026 cycle moves forward. But voters should not have to wait years for relief while elections proceed under a map that may ultimately be found unconstitutional. Every election conducted under an unfair map risks silencing communities, distorting representation, and eroding public trust in our democratic process.Black voters deserve districts that reflect their communities, protect their voting strength, and comply with the constitutional safeguards Floridians overwhelmingly approved through the Fair Districts Amendments. Our fight does not end with this preliminary ruling. We remain committed to ensuring that Florida\u2019s congressional map is fair, constitutional, and representative of all people \u2014 not engineered for partisan advantage at the expense of voters.<\/p>\n
The new districts could help Republicans gain as many as four seats in Congress, and the ruling could affect not only how districts are drawn but also who voters ultimately send to Washington.<\/p>\n
Across Florida, elections officials are now moving quickly to implement the new lines, including updating precincts, printing ballots, and notifying voters about changes to their districts.<\/p>\n
Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Wendy Sartory Link said the new maps affect about 625,000 voters in the county and have compressed the timeline for election preparations.<\/p>\n
\u201cNormally we have months to do this and to proofread these and spot check everything. And now we don’t,\u201d Link said.<\/p>\n
The new maps also added 13 new precincts, bringing the total to more than 800. <\/p>\n
Link said the first voters to receive updated information will be those whose polling location has changed.<\/p>\n
Florida is a closed primary state, meaning each precinct requires multiple ballots. Link said the county is dealing with thousands of unique ballot styles.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s over 3200 ballots that are each distinct ballots with distinct races, distinct candidates for those seats,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Election preparations are expected to cost about $700,000, with staff working overtime to meet deadlines. Link said her office expects to begin ballot preparation soon.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can start preparing our ballots, which we\u2019ll start sometime next week,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Equal Ground has filed an appeal<\/a>. The judge also made clear the ruling did not decide whether the maps are legal, and that question will be addressed at a full trial still ahead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 Florida\u2019s new congressional maps will remain in place for this year\u2019s elections…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260113,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-288497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}