Florida legislative staff members responsible for crafting the first draft of congressional borders took questions about their work Tuesday.
House and Senate staffers did their best to allay the hometown concerns of lawmakers from across the state. Rep. Alan Williams (D-Tallahasse) is unhappy the proposed map splits Leon County. But House staffer Jason Poreda says sometimes dividing communities is unavoidable.
“You’re going to have those types of splits throughout a congressional map because you need to obtain exact population,” Poreda says. “So there are going to be neighborhoods that you’re going to have to go through and split in order to pick up that remaining 100 people that you might need or 73 people you might need whatever the case may be.”
Democratic National Committee member John Ausman submitted a map in which the entirety of Leon County is placed in District 5. But a number of lawmakers—primarily conservative—are skeptical his proposal was drawn without partisan intent.
