Florida Redistricting Petitions Available

A bipartisan committee of Florida leaders is working to reform state redistricting procedures. This committee has organized a citizen petition drive to fix the way voting district lines are drawn.

For example:

• Legislators are using sophisticated technology to pinpoint the voters they want in their districts (politicians are choosing their voters instead of voters choosing their politicians).
• Legislators have created a politician protection plan by creating "safe seats".
• Current districts span hundreds of miles and crisscross multiple counties statewide.

The petition is actually three different reform proposals that strive to achieve the following:

1. Remove politicians from the redistricting process.
2. Ensure that new districts are compact and contiguous, allowing community representation, and to hold politicians accountable.
3. The third amendment requires that these new districts are in place by the 2008 elections.

750,000 signatures are required statewide by December 2005. Martin County will need to contribute approximately 8000 signatures. Then Florida citizens have the opportunity to vote for these amendments in the November 2006 elections.

More information can be found at www.committeeforfairelections.com. For petitions and/or to help with this important campaign, contact Robyn Baber at 772-692-7943.

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