迈阿密-进步公民团体对共和党控制的佛罗里达州议会如何划分南佛罗里达州的四个国会选区和七个州众议院选区提出质疑，声称这些选区对西班牙裔进行了不公正的种族划分。西班牙裔在佛罗里达州过于多元化，不能被视为受保护的少数族裔。
这些组织周四提起诉讼，声称这些区域违宪，并要求南佛罗里达联邦法院阻止它们被用于任何目的选举南被列为被告的是佛罗里达州众议院议员和佛罗里达州国务卿科德·伯德。
周六，国务卿办公室留下了一条寻求置评的信息。
根据联邦和州法律，如果少数族裔群体具有凝聚力，并且大多数白人选民能够阻止少数族裔群体选举他们喜欢的候选人，则在重新划分选区时可以考虑种族问题以保护少数族裔选民。
然而，诉讼称，佛罗里达州立法机构错误地认为南佛罗里达州的拉美裔选民是团结的，因为佛罗里达州的白人多数经常与南佛罗里达州的拉美裔选民联合投票。
“相反，就政治行为和偏好而言，它是微妙的、多方面的和多样化的，”诉讼称南佛罗里达的西班牙裔社区。“立法机关无权根据对种族相似性的无知假设来划分基于种族的选区。“
相反，根据诉讼，迈阿密市和那不勒斯所在地科利尔县真正的少数族裔社区在选区划分时被分割。
诉讼所针对的地区集中在迈阿密戴德县，该县三分之二以上的居民是西班牙裔。
诉讼称:“在划分这些选区时，佛罗里达州立法机构将传统的重新划分标准和州宪法要求置于种族之上，而没有狭隘地调整选区界线以推进令人信服的政府利益。”
受到挑战的国会选区——19、26、27和28——从迈尔斯堡横跨州到迈阿密地区和佛罗里达群岛的墨西哥湾沿岸地区。接受审查的众议院选区——112、113、114、115、116、118和119——集中在迈阿密地区。
所有的选区目前都由共和党人代表。
诉讼称，这些选区违反了良好选区划分的基本原则，如确保社区保持完整，保持紧凑，防止选区延伸到不同的社区。
Groups claim South Florida districts are racially gerrymandered for Hispanics in lawsuit
MIAMI --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 anyelections. 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.
“Rather, it is nuanced, multifaceted, and diverse with respect to political behavior and preferences,” the lawsuit said of South Florida's Hispanic community. “The Legislature was not entitled to draw race-based districts based on uninformed assumptions of racial sameness.”
Instead, genuine minority communities of interest in the city of Miami and Collier County, which is home to Naples, were split up when the districts were drawn, according to the lawsuit.
More than two-thirds of the residents of Miami-Dade County — where the districts targeted by the lawsuit are concentrated — are Hispanic.
“In drawing these districts, the Florida Legislature subordinated traditional redistricting criteria and state constitutional requirements to race without narrowly tailoring the district lines to advance a compelling government interest,” the lawsuit said.
The congressional districts being challenged — 19, 26, 27 and 28 — stretch from theFort Myersarea on the Gulf Coast across the state to the Miami area and down to the Florida Keys. The House districts under scrutiny — 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 118, and 119 — are concentrated in the Miami area.
All the districts currently are being represented by Republicans.
As drawn, the districts violate basic principles of good district drawing, such as making sure communities stay intact, being compact and keeping districts from stretching far and wide into disparate neighborhoods, the lawsuit said.
