After a year of legal battles over voting district boundaries, Senate Minority Leader Arthenia Joyner of Tampa has filed a pair of bills to create an independent commission to take up the task every 10 years of redrawing Congressional and Legislative Election Districts.
One bill would amend the State Constitution to create an Independent Commission to handle what has become a divisive and litigious process.
The other bill outlines the creation of a Commission to be made up of 12 private citizens who have been registered Florida voters, with or without party affiliation, and has voted in the last two statewide General Elections.
The bill contains a long list of restrictions on who can be eligible for the candidate pool. It would prohibit:
- Anyone who donated the maximum amount to a candidate.
- Held office themselves or had family members in office.
- Worked as a lobbyist or as a government employee in the five years prior to their appointment to the commission.
All candidates would submit an application to the Auditor General, which would be responsible for vetting the applicants and maintaining an applicant pool and ultimately choosing the members after the Legislative leadership had a chance to cull from the pool.
The Florida Supreme Court earlier this month approved a new voting map for Florida’s 27 Congressional Districts after a coalition of voting rights groups sued over the Legislature’s map, saying it was heavily partisan and violated a fair district amendment approved by voters to prevent gerrymandering.
The new map is being challenged by Democratic Rep. Corrine Brown.
The Voting Rights Coalition also challenged the State’s Senate map as unconstitutional. A four-day hearing was held in Tallahassee, and Circuit Court Judge George Reynolds approved the voting rights group’s Senate map.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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