Groups claim South Florida districts are racially gerrymandered for Hispanics in lawsuit

MIAMI (AP) — Progressive civic groups have challenged how four congressional districts and seven state House districts in South Florida were drawn by the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature, claiming they were racially gerrymandered for Hispanics who are too diverse in Florida to be considered a protected minority.

The groups filed a lawsuit on Thursday, claiming the districts are unconstitutional and asking a federal court in South Florida to stop them from being used for any elections. Named as defendants were the Florida House of Representatives and Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd.

A message seeking comment was left Saturday at the Secretary of State’s office.

According to federal and state law, race can be considered during redistricting to protect minority voters if the minority group is cohesive and if majority-white voters are able to keep the minority group from electing their preferred candidates.

However, the Florida Legislature wrongly assumed that South Florida’s Hispanic voters are cohesive when that’s no longer the case since the white majority in Florida regularly votes in coalition with the Hispanic voters in South Florida, the lawsuit said.

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