FLORIDA VOTERS FILE LAWSUIT CHALLENGING GOP REDISTRICTING MAP

Tallahassee, FL — On the heels of the Florida Legislature’s passage of the GOP-backed redistricting maps concerned Florida voters, working with the Florida Democratic Party (FDP), today filed a lawsuit in Florida state court to challenge the constitutionality of the congressional map which violates the Fair District Amendments and seeks to suppress the voice of Florida’s citizens.

“Republicans have undertaken the sort of incumbent protection and partisan gerrymandering that 63-percent of Florida voters overwhelmingly demanded must stop,” said Florida Democratic Party Chairman Rod Smith.  “Now the courts have to step in to implement the will of the people — a job the GOP in Tallahassee failed to accomplish.”

The FDP suit alleges the 2012 congressional map violates multiple aspects of Article III, Section 20 of the Florida Constitution – Amendment 6.

Smith continued, “For over a decade the Republican-led Legislature has ruled state government with a complete disregard for Florida’s families. These maps are simply more of that same failed leadership that prioritizes special interests over the interests of the middle class.”

The party anticipates AG Pam Bondi will submit the state legislative maps to the Florida Supreme Court in a matter of days for mandatory judicial review and plans to mount a vigorous legal fight once these unconstitutional maps are taken up by Florida’s highest court.

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