Senate to Randomly Draw Balls to Assign District Numbers

The Senate Reapportionment Committee will hold a random drawing to determine how to number the Senate districts for the next decade.

Senate Majority Leader Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, and Senate Minority Leader Nan Rich, D-Sunrise, will have the secretary of the Senate oversee a drawing today to randomly draw numbers that could be used as place holder district numbers for the revised map that the full Senate will vote on Thursday, said committee Chairman Don Gaetz, R-Niceville.

The Senate has to revisit the map because the state Supreme Court ruled March 9 that eight of the 40 senate districts failed to meet standards of the voter-approved Fair Districts amendments and that the renumbering plan devised by the Senate could allow some currently sitting members to exceed the state constitutional term-limit requirements.

Legislators are limited to no more than eight consecutive years in their current office, with some exceptions to extend that to 10.

Sen. John Thrasher, R-Jacksonville, said that by failing to fix all areas the court criticized we risk having the entire map thrown out.

If the court rejects the Senates revisions, the courts staff would take charge of redrawing the lines to meet the Fair Districts requirements.

Following the once-a-decade redistricting, all Senate seats are up for election.

While senators are elected to four-year terms, only after redistricting do some face two-year terms.

The reason for the interest among senators is that those who land in a district with an even number would be competing for two-year terms, with the potential to run again in 2014 for a four-year term.

Senate districts with odd numbers would have four-year terms following the 2012 and 2016 contests, and two years after 2020.

Senators expressed concern that the random drawing could result in some areas of the state getting all even or odd districts, which could hinder regional voting power as offices change hands at the same time due to term limits.