Many Florida Democrats want unhappy Black Floridians to take out their frustration by participating in voting process.
Recently, a Florida judge rejected a voting redistricting map backed by the state’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis saying that the map is unconstitutional because it disenfranchises Black voters.
The judge said that the proposed map would not get used for any future United States congressional race because it would prevent many Black voters in north Florida of electing the representative of their choosing.
As a result of the ruling, circuit court Judge J. Lee Marsh sent the map back to the Florida Legislature, instructing state politicians to construct a map that adheres to the state’s constitution.
In the decision, Marsh wrote that the voting rights group that challenged the redistricting map in Florida “have shown that the enacted plan results in the diminishment of Black voters’ ability to elect their candidate of choice in violation of the Florida Constitution.”
The Associated Press reported, “The decision was the latest to strike down new congressional maps in Southern states over concerns that they diluted Black voting power.
“In June, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a Republican-drawn map in Alabama, with two conservative justices joining the liberals in rejecting the effort to weaken a landmark voting rights law. Not long after that, the Supreme Court lifted its hold on a Louisiana political remap case, increasing the likelihood that the Republican-dominated state will have to redraw boundary lines to create a second mostly Black congressional district.”
However, in each previous case, Republicans have vowed to appeal the decision because those standing judgements could benefit their Democratic counterparts during the 2024 election cycle.
The recent judgment in Florida will probably reach the state Supreme Court on appeal.
The redistricting map occurred as it often does after the decennial census that takes place in America every 10 years.
Every decade, a census count is taken from coast to coast to count every American citizen, once and only once.
Often, minorities get undercounted because of a lack of access and a lack of trust in the government.
However, an accurate count is crucial because it determines how much money goes to certain areas of the country.
Furthermore, the decennial census determines how many congressional seats an area, city or state receives.
When Democrats are in control, they often draw congressional maps that would give their party more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Likewise, when the Republican Party is in power, they often draw maps that benefit the GOP.
Unfortunately, the GOP often draws congressional maps that sometimes suppresses minority voters and minority representation because many Black voters overwhelmingly vote for Democrats.
The Associated Press reported, “DeSantis, a candidate for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, was criticized for essentially drawing Democratic U.S. Rep. Al Lawson, who is Black, out of office by carving up his district and dividing a large number of Black voters into conservative districts represented by White Republicans.
“In an unprecedented move, DeSantis interjected himself into the redistricting process last year by vetoing the Republican-dominated Legislature’s map that preserved Lawson’s district. He called a special session, submitted his own map and demanded lawmakers accept it.”
The “Sunshine State” has a population of 22.2 million residents, with 17 percent identifying as Black.
Based on the planned Republican map, a 360-mile stretch of land from the Alabama border to the Atlantic Ocean and south from the Georgia border to central Florida, which includes Orlando, Fla., would have been represented by White Republican lawmakers.
The Republican defense argued that the position that their proposed map weakened or eliminated minority districts would ultimately violate the U.S. Constitution.
However, the judge rejected that argument.
Marsh wrote, “The court finds that defendants have not satisfied their burden in this case.”
DeSantis, who is extremely popular in Florida, has created many critics from the Black community for things such as redistricting, eliminating an advanced placement Black history course, supporting language for Florida history books that state that slaves benefitted from slavery because they learned job skills and for eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion offices form state colleges.
Many critics have cited his demands as it pertains to his stop woke movement as a play to appeal to voters who supported former President Donald Trump but want a MAGA alternative without the baggage of the 45th president of the United States.
However, some of DeSantis’ stop woke rhetoric and actions have made him extremely unpopular amongst many Black voters.
When three Black people lost their lives, allegedly at the hands of a White supremacist in Jacksonville, Fla., DeSantis appeared at a prayer vigil to condemn violence.
However, many of DeSantis’ Black critics used his appearance at the Jacksonville prayer vigil to let him know that many of his policies are not popular amongst his Black constituents.
“This community should be angry because he is not their governor,” said Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried. “He does not represent them. So, the Black community should be angry but to take that anger and that passion and put it into action, and that’s by voting.”
Nevertheless, many Republicans believe that many Democrats are just mad because they are not in power in Florida.
Orange County, Fla. Republican Party Chair Charles Hart said, “This isn’t discrimination. This is using the power of the people who voted you into office to do what the people want you to do, which is to make districts which represent them.”
