A Florida Senate committee approved plans to divide almost 19 million state residents into newly-drawn voting districts Wednesday, largely along party lines.
In the process known as redistricting, Republicans who dominate both the committee and the state legislature unanimously supported the new maps.
A newly-created district is located in the central part of the state where the demographics are majority Hispanic.
Florida has 40 Senate districts, 120 House districts, and with the results of the recent Census, has added two Congressional districts for a total of 27.
Senate Minority Leader Nan Rich, a Democrat who represents Weston, argued that the committee’s maps violate the Constitutional amendments Florida voters approved in 2010. The amendments were meant to outlaw gerrymandering that benefits a party or incumbent, requiring districts be compact and divided along contiguous, naturally-occurring boundaries and protect minority constituents’ voting rights.
The redistricting process takes place once each decade following the Census count.
The full Senate is scheduled to take up the floor debate on the new maps next Tuesday. The House and Senate have each agreed to accept the other chamber’s maps for their own chamber districts, and strike compromise on the maps for Congressional districts.