What District Am I In Now? Inside Florida’s Redistricting Confusion

You’re going to your local election center to vote. You had to find the time in your busy day to complete your civic duty. When you get the ballot, you don’t recognize names that you’ve voted for in the past. That’s because you now live in a new district.

North Bay Village resident Sabrina Anico was surprised by just this when she went to vote early – about a week before Election Day. North Bay Village was formerly part of District 24, but is now part of District 25, which spans from Miami Beach to Boca Raton.

“To know that [District 25] is as far north as Boca Raton is really surprising because we do not necessarily have the same kinds of issues and concerns,” Anico said.

Anico highlighted that Florida and the local government have not done enough to inform voters about the new districts.

“I received so many garbage flyer mailers that were like mudslinging back and forth about candidates, but I didn't get anything that explained to me that there was a redistricting taking place at this time,” she said. “It just sounds like a Republican power grab ploy, where they're just trying to minimize the impact that blue voters can have.”

The Florida legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis approved a new congressional district map in May of this year, following in the footsteps of many other states undergoing mid-decade redistricting encouraged by President Trump. Twenty-one out of 28 districts were redrawn, only four years after the last redrawing.

The Democrats' sweeping takeover of both the houses of Congress Tuesday, however, called the wisdom of that rushed redistricting into question. Not only did it not have the desired effect in several key Florida races, but some observers suggested that it outright backfired and frustrated voters. Three out of the four Congressional districts Republicans withdrew were won by Democrats.

Typically, states redistrict once a decade after the census, which happens every ten years. However, states began rapidly redrawing once the Supreme Court ruled on Louisiana v. Callais in late April. This case ruled a second majority-Black district in Louisiana an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, limiting the power of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

University of Miami Associate Professor Stephanie Puello explained the impacts of this decision.

“The Callais case was huge with respect to allowing for majority-minority districts to essentially be removed, or it’s much harder to contest them,” Puello said. “That really changes the game, and it really matters who is in power to redraw these maps, particularly because it’'s coming from a lot of partisan efforts to essentially create a more Republican majority in terms of the 28 congressional seats in Florida.”

This did not sit well with many Floridians. Common Cause, a nonpartisan grassroots watchdog organization, is suing the state over the new congressional map.

“We are suing because this new congressional map violates the Florida Constitution,” said Amy Keith, Executive Director of Common Cause Florida.

“In 2010, over 60% of Florida voters approved the Fair Districts Amendments to the Florida Constitution, and those amendments make it very clearly illegal to draw voting districts to benefit a political party,” Keith said. “This kind of blatant partisan gerrymandering, it’s not illegal federally, and it might not be illegal in other states. But the people of Florida made that illegal.”

Miami Beach resident Fred Knapp is fearful of the precedent this sets for future elections.

“I think this more falls to the governor, the state legislature, and the Supreme Court, which basically changed years of legal history to allow this kind of off-year reapportionment,” Knapp said. “That's totally unfortunate because I think it's going to set the stage for this to happen every two years.”

Partisan redistricting has become significantly more advanced over the past few years through computer algorithms and large amounts of census and voter data.

“They have most of our voter file data...down to granular, like census blocks, at the neighborhood level,” Puello said. “This last map was created by a single person in the governor's office. Now they also have some consumer data that they kind of overlay, and of course demographics... the algorithms can create thousands of different alternatives.”

The impact on Florida’s geography is significant.

“If you look at Southeast Florida, you're going to see a district that snakes its way up the beach,” Keith said. “You're also going to see another district which is huge, stretching all the way from the Atlantic to the Gulf. It's not something that’s designed to ensure fair and good representation for these communities. It's designed to give one party a political advantage.”

Most districts in Florida are safe for either party, leaving only Districts 22, 25 and 27 as realistic toss-ups in South Florida, according to Puello. Many voters feel disenfranchised when their district becomes “safe,” which tends to push candidates farther left or right to cater to their base in a competitive primary.

“Realistically, what happens is that the primary becomes the more important challenge,” Puello said.

“That means that they ignore independents and they tend to ignore people on the other side of the aisle. Once they get elected, they are less likely to support bipartisan efforts, bipartisan bills, especially things related to budgeting.”

Districts drawn for political gain also split cultural and geographic regions, leading to confusion at the polls.

“In some places, you'll have communities who are voting on a different congressional representative than the people on the other side of the road,” Keith said. “In addition, for some voters, this means they're going to have a whole new polling place because in some places, the supervisors of elections had to reprecinct in order to accommodate the new district line.”

Although Floridians may feel disenfranchised by this partisan political scene, it is of utmost importance that they realize the impact their vote continues to hold as long as they turn out.

“Just because a district leans a certain way doesn't mean that it's actually determined,” Puello said. “We've seen these elections kind of get razor-thin margins. So it's really important for people to turn out and to not assume that the result has already been predetermined.”

Puello also emphasized the power of Florida’s Fair Districts Amendments because they were passed by voters as a means of direct democracy to protect minority representation.

Keith echoed that voters still hold the power down the ballot.

“Pay attention to who is running to represent your community, not just in Congress, but also who's running to represent your community in Tallahassee, on your city council or your county commission, because it is those state and local representatives who create most of the policies that affect our everyday lives,” Keith said. “The fight is continuing, and we are continuing to fight in court to stop this map before 2028.”

The 2022 Congressional Map and the 2026 Congressional Map show how much has changed between the last midterm election and this one.

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