Draw the line for fair elections – Palm Beach Post

Palm Beach Post Editorial Board  |  Palm Beach Post

Florida’s future, and yours, will be decided over the next few months. 

U.S. Census data released Aug. 12 set in motion the process by which Florida lawmakers will redraw political district lines for federal, state and local offices. For those who dwell outside the world of politics, that might not hold much interest. But it should. 

The city-by-city, block-by-block battle lines will determine for whom you can vote for city commission, which party will dominate the Legislature in Tallahassee and which bills near to your heart will get a hearing in Washington, D.C. 

Where the lines fall will determine whether an incumbent faces a meaningful challenge or decides whether to run for a different office, or whether a political newcomer has any chance of winning a seat. 

In a key state with 5.21 million registered Democrats and 5.15 million Republicans, the newly drawn lines for congressional districts could sway who becomes the next president of the United States. 

These decisions, with their immense impact on our and our children’s futures, more often than not are crafted behind closed doors, by the very people whose political careers are on the line, people who in the recent past have shamelessly put partisan aims above what you and I might consider fairness. In short, those who put gamesmanship above democracy or don’t see the difference. 

Floridians in 2010 voted overwhelmingly to end partisan gerrymandering, passing the Fair Districts amendments for state legislative and congressional districts. 

The state constitution now prohibits political favoritism while protecting the rights of minority voters. It requires districts to be compact, contiguous, roughly equal in population and to follow city or county lines where feasible. Local governments can adopt similar standards.

Ellen Freidin, leader of FairDistricts Movement, noted in a recent briefing that the amendments don’t enforce themselves, however. GOP pols who fought the amendments in 2010 and lost promised afterward the most open, interactive, transparent redistricting process ever and held more than 25 public hearings to prove it. But in the end, they conspired with partisan operatives to draw maps that the Florida Supreme Court found unconstitutionally skewed to help Republican candidates. In that 2014 case, League of Women Voters of Florida  v. Detzner, Circuit Court Judge Terry Lewis said state lawmakers made a “mockery” of redistricting.

Once those maps were redrawn, elections immediately became fairer, Freidin said. Significantly more candidates ran for election to Congress and the Florida Senate than ever. The state saw a 500 percent increase in races decided within a 6-point margin.  

“We’ve learned if the Fair District Amendments are applied, that competition increases,” she said. “Dramatically.” 

Before the amendments passed, Florida rarely saw serious competition in congressional races. But in a healthy change, 2016 saw five close races, each of which resulted in a change of party for a district, including two in South Florida that changed from Republican to Democratic, the 26th and 27th, in Miami-Dade County.

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Miami), then Florida’s longest-serving congressperson, opted not to run for re-election in the 27th in 2018. Democrat Donna Shalala, former Secretary of Health and Human Services and University of Miami president, succeeded her.

Some incumbents moved to other districts or ran for other offices, rather than stand for re-election in a district that no longer was a lock for them, Freidin said. Others moderated positions on issues to adjust to the changed political complexion of their reconfigured districts. 

Fair District supporters fear that partisans again are poised to rejigger the rules, however, as the decennial redistricting process unfolds over the next several months. 

They find little indication that data or discussions will be brought to the public in a meaningful way. And when, inevitably, the maps the GOP-controlled Legislature approves end up in litigation, the arbiter this time will be a more conservative leaning Florida Supreme Court, whose balance has been tipped by our Republican governor, Ron DeSantis. 

The Fair District amendments can strengthen democracy in Florida, if only the lawmakers who control the process would stand behind them. Sadly, when a coalition of Florida groups asked state Senate and House members to pledge allegiance to the Fair District Amendments, only 17 of 160 lawmakers signed. 

We urge you to stay on top of this issue because many elections are decided before you get to the voting booth.