January 13, 2022Chairman Ray RodriguesFlorida Senate Reapportionment Committee305 Senate Building404 South Monroe StreetTallahassee, FL 32399-1100Dear Chairman Rodrigues and Members of the Senate Reapportionment Committee:We write to thank you for the time and energy you have devoted to drafting new Congressionaland Senate maps. We recognize the enormity and difficulty of your task.That said, we want to put a finer point on a concern that has been expressed to you repeatedlyby Cecile Scoon, President of the League of Women Voters of Florida. As Ms. Scoon hasexpressed, we have concerns about whether all necessary steps have been taken to ensure thatall of the newly drawn districts fully comply with the Voting Rights Act and the constitutions of the United States and Florida. Although you have published the results of your functionalanalyses for districts that were drawn as minority districts in the benchmark 2016 maps, youstill have not made the data that formed the basis for the analyses available to the public indownloadable and usable form. We ask that you do that immediately to give the public theopportunity to assess the districts that you are about to vote on.Furthermore, we wonder why you are limiting your examination of minority voting rights to theexisting minority districts. Certainly, the minority population has grown since the last mapswere drawn. There may be other opportunities to afford Black and Hispanic voters their rightsto participate fully in the political process and elect representatives of their choice. Have youexplored the possibility that other minority districts could be created?Finally, we have not heard you say a word in public about whether you have performed aRacially Polarized Voting (RPV) analysis or hired any expert to do such a study. This is essentialto help you assess potential performance of districts with substantial minority population. Oneexpert, Dr. Jeffrey Lewis, of UCLA, testified in the recent North Carolina redistricting trial that hewas currently engaged to do such a study in Florida. Has your committee used his work indrawing Senate and Congressional maps? If not, why not? We ask that you immediately make
public his analysis or any other RPV study you have including the data used in the study (indownloadable form).Sincerely,The Fair Districts Coalition Executive Committee
All On The Line FloridaCommon Cause FloridaEqual Ground FairDistricts Now Florida WatchFlorida Rising Florida Conservation Voters League Of Women Voters Florida Progress FloridaState Voices FloridaUnidos US