Listen: https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/americandemocracyminute/episodes/2022-05-17T08_02_19-07_00
Redistricting Whiplash in NY, FL & NH
Links for Today:
New York – NBC article on new court Congressional map, Common Cause New York
Florida – Miami Herald article on court stay, likely appeal lifted on Congressional map, Fair Districts Florida
New Hampshire – InDepth NH article, Open Democracy Action
You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping your government by and for the people.
We have some redistricting whiplash for you in New York, Florida & New Hampshire. In New York, after the Congressional district map gerrymandered by Democrats was ruled unconstitutional, a state court has created its own map, which throws multiple incumbents into races against each other, including U.S. House Judiciary and Oversight chairs, Rep. Jerry Nadler and Carolyn Maloney in the newly drawn 12th Congressional District. Common Cause New York objected to the map, which it says divides communities of interest and neighborhoods.
In Florida, a court-ordered alternative map to the Congressional map Governor Ron Desantis signed had its stay lifted. The state is expected to appeal to stop it, but voting groups have asked that any appeal be fast tracked directly to the Florida Supreme Court. The Desantis map dilutes the heavily African American Congressional District 5 in north Florida, reducing the chances that a Black member of Congress would be elected. The court’s map keeps most of District 5 intact. Florida has a constitutional amendment forbidding gerrymandering for partisan purposes.
In New Hampshire, another Congressional map proposal has been made, tempering earlier proposals which gerrymandered the Granite State’s two Congressional districts to be uncompetitive. But an independent citizen mapping group says Senate Bill 200 is only slightly less bad than the previous proposals. Governor Chris Sununu has pledged to veto gerrymandered maps, but has already signed heavily gerrymandered NH Senate & Executive Council maps.
We have more information and links to the groups fighting gerrymandering at our website, AmericanDemocracyMinute.org/
Granny D said, “Democracy is not something we have, it’s something we DO.”
For the American Democracy Minute, I’m Brian Beihl.
