Lawyers for the Florida State Conference of the NAACP branches want the states top court to again declare unconstitutional the Senates effort to create the once-a-decade reapportionment lines.
In a brief filed Tuesday, the lawyers claim the Senate, which used the voter-approved Fair Districts requirements to reduce gerrymandering, reduced the minority representation in two historically black-held districts to the benefit of neighboring Republican-held seats.
The NAACP, Florida League of Women Voters and Florida Democratic Party will get to present oral arguments against the map before the Florida Supreme Court on April 20.
The deadline to file to present oral arguments was noon Tuesday.
The NAACP lawyers contend the way the Senate compacted the two districts -- in Duval and Broward counties -- will lower the percentage of black voters, diminishing the African-American voting strength in the districts. And, they added, that there isnt enough evidence available with the Senate map to actually determine the long-range impact on voters in the districts through the reduction in black population.
Without such evidence, approving these districts is simply gambling on the future ability of minority voters to participate in the political process, wrote the NAACP team, made up of Charles G. Burr, Allison J. Riggs, Victor L. Goode and Dorcas R. Gilmore.
Finally, even based on the limited evidence before this court, there are serious questions about the continued ability of black voters to elect the candidates of their choice in Senate districts 9 and 31.
According to a release from the Senate, when the map was redrawn during the special session last month, the bills contain districts providing voting opportunities for racial and language minorities" in areas of fast-growing population in and around Orlando.
They were inspired by testimony and proposals from Hispanic groups and citizens based on exceptional increases in primarily Puerto Rican population in the area in recent years," the release states.
Consistent with (Fair Districts) Amendments 5 and 6 added by voters to the state Constitution, the Senate plans protect minority voters from diminishment in the ability to elect candidates of their choice.
The Florida League of Women Voters and Florida Democratic Party have argued the new map continues to favor incumbents of both parties.
While the amendments require new boundaries to be drawn along city, county and geographic lines, Senate President-designate Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, who chairs the Senate Reapportionment Committee, stated at the same time that they were not always able to do so in dense urban areas or to avoid retrogression of existing racial or ethnic minority voting strength.
District 9 is in Duval County, with the area currently represented by Sen. Audrey Gibson, D-Jacksonville.
The district, currently District 1, includes parts of Duval, Flagler, Putnam, St. Johns, and Volusia counties.The district is more than 50 percent black, non-Hispanic. As District 9, the district falls to 40 percent black.
District 31, in Broward County, is currently home to Sen. Chris Smith, D-Oakland Park.
The district would replace the current District 29, which snakes west of the Intracoastal Waterway in Palm Beach and Broward counties.
District 29 is 63 percent black. District 31 would be 43 percent black.
While the Florida NAACP would strongly protest the packing of black voters into supermajority districts, the Florida NAACP also opposes the dismantling of black opportunity districts ... simply in the name of making them more compact and thus risking the ability to elect, the NAACP counsel stated.
The court rejected the Senates first map on March 9, declaring that eight of the 40 districts failed to comply with the Fair Districts amendments requirements that new lines not favor incumbents, be compact and follow geographic and government lines.
If the map is rejected, the court would have 60 days to draw its own map to set district lines for state senators.
Reach Jim Turner at jturner@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 215-9889.
