Statement in Response to Event For Opposition Campaign to Fair Districts Amendments 5 & 6

Media Statements

Media Contacts
Brad Ashwell

Florida PIRG

It is no surprise that politicians are leading the charge in the campaign to defeat Amendments 5 and 6. They are twisting the truth just so they can continue making political deals in order to hold on to their power.

Opponents to Fair Districts are using scare tactics to get minority voters to believe they should vote no on the amendments. They are saying the amendments will reduce minority representation, when the real reason they are opposing the amendments is because they don’t want any rules for redistricting.

The reality is that the FairDistricts Amendments will- for the first time- place protections for minority voting rights into the Florida Constitution. Amendments 5 & 6 both say:

    “[D]istricts shall not be drawn with the intent or result of denying or abridging the equal opportunity of racial or language minorities to participate in the political process or; …” to diminish their ability to elect representatives of their choice.

In addition to providing stronger protections for minority voters, Amendments 5 and 6 also prohibit politicians from designing districts to favor themselves or their parties and require them, where possible, to make the districts more compact and community based.

“The Amendments have been endorsed by well-respected, diverse groups such as: NAACP Florida, League of Women Voters of Florida, AARP Florida,  Florida’s Legislative Black Caucus, Florida Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials, Florida League of Cities, Florida Association of Counties, Demcracia Ahora and Florida PIRG just to name a few.