The League of Women Voters is not impressed with the revised congressional map passed by the Florida Legislature just over a week ago. The voting rights group argued against the changes Wednesday in court.
League attorney David King says the Legislature’s redistricting effort did as little as possible to address the court’s order to fix the so-called “appendages” and the compactness of Districts 5 and 10 – something the judge says indicated an intent to favor the incumbent. King says the Legislature didn’t do enough, especially in District 5.
“Our conclusion is that it did not solve the problem to simply patch the appendage in Seminole County and to bulk the district up a bit in Putnam County; that did not solve – the district remains essentially the same,” King says.
The revised map removes the appendages. But King is leaving the door open for further appeal if Leon County Circuit Judge Terry Lewis does not throw out the Legislature’s newest map. Lewis’ ruling is expected early next week at the latest.
