The term gerrymandering was coined over 200 years ago. On March 26, 1812, the Boston Gazette first used the term in describing the redrawing of a Massachusetts state senate district. Gov. Elbridge Gerry, a member of the Democratic-Republican Party, said the district resembled a salamander. Gerry’s name was linked to the last part of salamander, and the term gerrymandering was born.
Declaring it is time for Florida to “modernize” it’s voting systems, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris King unveiled a policy statement Tuesday calling for universal voter registration and for voters to vote anywhere in their county.
Florida has more registered Democrats than Republicans, but the balance of power in government doesn’t even come close to reflecting that. Despite a 2010 constitutional amendment aimed at preventing political gerrymandering, Republicans dominate Florida politics. Democrats only hold 41 of 120 state House seats, 15 of 40 Senate seats and are outnumbered in in the U.S. House 16-11. While it would be easy to say Republicans built their power because they draw the political boundaries for Congress and the Legislature,…
If only the Florida Constitution included a provision like this: (1) Members of the Legislature who vote for measures subsequently held unconstitutional shall be liable jointly and severally for all attorney fees and costs as established by the court. (2) Failure to pay such liabilities within 60 days of final judgment shall constitute disqualification for re-election or election to another office. That is, to be sure, as far-fetched a dream as hitting the Powerball, if not more so. But it’s…
Want the boss’ job? For Susannah Randolph, you run for it. Randolph, 41, an Orlando Democrat, has been the district director for Congressman Alan Grayson … both times. Now that Grayson, an Orlando Democrat, is running for the U.S. Senate, Randolph is running for his seat from Florida’s 9th Congressional District. Democrats actually have a congressional district in the 9th where they can have a crowded primary instead of the often one lone, unknown Democratic candidate taking a roll of…
U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown is pursuing a federal lawsuit, Brown v. Detzner, in the wake of the Florida Supreme Court’s approval of a redrawn congressional map for the state. Brown, along with the Congressional Black Caucus, argue that the change means “substantial retrogression” for African-American communities, along with significant dilution of the black vote in her district. The ruling changes Brown’s district considerably, reshaping it from one that snakes southward from Jacksonville down to Orlando, to an east-west configuration, going from…
Today on Context Florida: Martin Dyckman describes why it has taken so long to replace the Legislature’s gerrymandered voting districts with maps that respect the public’s right to fair representation. It was plain to see, three years ago, that the 27 congressional districts and 40 Florida Senate seats were drawn to protect, if not pad, the Republican Party’s outsized majorities in Tallahassee and Washington. Florida should adopt an independent redistricting commission, Dyckman says. At long last, Florence Snyder says there’s an…
