The Republican-controlled Florida Senate passed a redistricting map today, sending Congressional lines that cement a strong Republican majority in the delegation to Gov. Rick Scott’s desk. Democrats immediately announced they had filed a lawsuit alleging that the map violates a 2010 popularly enacted state constitutional amendment that prohibits crafting Congressional lines with “the intent to favor or disfavor a political party or an incumbent.” Democrats blasted the state GOP, which also controls the state House.
“Republicans have undertaken the sort of incumbent protection and partisan gerrymandering that 63-percent of Florida voters overwhelmingly demanded must stop,” Florida Democratic Party Chairman Rod Smith said in a statement. “Now the courts have to step in to implement the will of the people — a job the GOP in Tallahassee failed to accomplish.”
Jackie Schutz, a spokeswoman for Scott, said the governor had not yet received the bill but would review it when he did. She said he would make a decision on whether to sign it “within the statutory time frame.” Republicans expect him to sign it into law.
Full Article: Florida: Congressional Redistricting Map Moves Toward Court | At the Races.