DeSantis, lawmakers sued by groups over congressional maps

Voter rights teams are suing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, his secretary of state and lawmakers in a bid to throw out redrawn congressional districts, saying the governor inappropriately influenced the once-a-decade process.

The lawsuit was filed Friday in federal courtroom in Tallahassee by Frequent Trigger Florida and Honest Districts Now, two non-partisan teams advocating for good authorities.

The criticism states DeSantis overstepped his government powers to suggest his personal maps to favor Republicans. It says his plans violate state and federal legal guidelines defending the redistricting course of in opposition to partisan gerrymandering.

Prior to the re-draw, the Florida Senate had passed a new congressional map in January that was “substantially compliant with the law and largely successful in protecting minority voting rights,” the complaint said.

After DeSantis’ proposals, lawmakers appeared to try to please the governor, by scrapping their maps and redrawing the districts in a new plan. “Accordingly, they retain the influence of the Governor’s proposed maps and disregard for state and federal law,” the lawsuit states.

DeSantis’ spokeswoman Christina Pushaw said the map submitted by the governor’s counsel is constitutional.

The redrawing of political lines occurs once a decade based on new population figures from the census. The new maps need to include a new 28th congressional district, a result of Florida’s population growing by 2.7 million new residents between 2010 and 2020.

The Legislature’s session was scheduled to conclude on Friday but was extended until Monday. Candidate qualifying for Congress runs from June 13-17.