ACLU Challenges False Statements

Press Release: ACLU Challenges False Statements by Opponents to Proposed Fair Districts Amendments 5 & 6

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida and the People over Politics Campaign today released the following statement and fact sheet on proposed amendments 5 & 6, in response to allegations by two Florida members of Congress that the Amendments will have a negative impact on minority voting rights.

“Protecting the voting rights of minority voters is a core ACLU mission,” said Howard Simon, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida.

“Some of us have literally spent the last 45 years fighting for, advocating for, and going to court to enforce and protect the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Reps. Diaz Balart and Brown are sadly mistaken about Amendments 5 & 6. These Constitutional Amendments are the most important changes that voters can make right now that will strengthen minority voting rights and protect the right of minorities to elect representatives of their choice.

“Amendments 5 & 6 will strengthen the rights that minority voters currently have under the federal Voting Rights Act and 5 & 6 will put the protection of minority voting rights in the Florida Constitution for the first time.

“The two Florida members of Congress are sadly mistaken if they believe that voting rights are best protected by packing minority voters in a few gerrymandered districts.”

FACT SHEET
AMENDMENTS 5 & 6 WILL STRENGTHEN MINORITY VOTING RIGHTS

Currently, Tallahassee politicians redraw district lines for the state Legislature and Congress with no rules to follow. They draw the districts to favor themselves without regard for what’s best for Florida voters. The districts they draw divide communities and reduce minority voting power.

Fair Districts Amendments 5 & 6 will create rules that politicians must follow when they redraw congressional and legislative district lines in 2012 and will stop this political favoritism.

Amendments 5 & 6 will also end the abusive practice of gerrymandering – the drawing of electoral district lines to favor one political party over the other or to give incumbent politicians an unfair advantage. These traditional gerrymandering devices typically have prevented minority voters from electing candidates of their choice.

According to voting rights experts such as Laughlin McDonald, Director of the Voting Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union, based in Atlanta, Georgia, if the Fair Districts redistricting standards are approved, the rights that black and all minority voters now have under the Voting Rights Act to elect candidates of their choice will be strengthened.

· Amendments 5 & 6 will create rules so politicians can never again use redistricting to reduce representation of Black and Hispanic voters.
· Amendments 5 & 6 prohibit politicians from drawing district lines “with the intent or result of denying or abridging the equal opportunity of racial or language minorities to participate in the political process or to diminish their ability to elect representatives of their choice.”
· This language puts the protection of minority voting rights in the Florida Constitution for the first time.
· This provision adds to the protections of the federal Voting Rights Act — one of the great accomplishments of the Civil Rights Movement.
· Example: The new redistricting standards protect not only majority-minority districts, which are protected by the Voting Rights Act (Section 2), but also “crossover” districts. These are districts in which a minority group is less than a majority but large enough to elect candidates of its choice with the help of non-minority voters who cross the racial divide to support the minority’s preferred candidate.
· Example: The Voting Rights Act (Section 5) prohibits redistricting plans that weaken the electoral strength a minority group already possesses (“retrogression”). In Florida, this only applies to five “covered jurisdictions:” Collier, Hardee, Hendry, Hillsborough and Monroe counties. If voters approve Amendments 5 & 6, the prohibition against diluting the voting strength of minority voters will apply to all Florida counties.