Tallahassee – On Tuesday August 31st, the Florida Supreme Court decided to keep the Legislature’s “Poison Pill” Amendment 7 off the ballot and put a stop to the latest attempt to remove Amendments 5 and 6. Upholding the Circuit Court’s decision to strike Amendment 7 because it “flies under false colors,” the Supreme Court stated in its ruling that “… the substance of Amendment 7 does not inform the voter of the true purpose and effect of the amendment on existing constitutional provisions, and further, is misleading.”
“We are pleased that after careful review, the Supreme Court understood that the Legislature’s Poison Pill Amendment was really intended to allow politicians to draw district lines without any rules,” said Adora Obi Nweze, President of the Florida NAACP. “Amendments 5 and 6 will for the first time place strong protections for minority voters in our State Constitution, while Amendment 7 would have made those protections optional.”
In May, 2010, the Florida NAACP, Florida League of Women Voters of Florida, and Democracia filed suit seeking the removal of the deceptive Amendment 7 from ballot. This “Poison Pill” Amendment was placed on the ballot by Tallahassee politicians to nullify the citizen-initiated FairDistricts Amendments 5 and 6. The FairDistricts amendments will add new rules to the State Constitution for politicians to follow when they redraw district lines, to make sure they protect voters’ interests, rather than their own.
“We are pleased that the Florida Supreme Court saw through this deceptive ploy by incumbent politicians seeking to protect their seats instead of working to serve the best interests of Florida voters,” said Florida League of Women Voters President Deirdre Mcnab.
By placing Amendment 7 on the ballot, a majority of the legislators proved beyond a reasonable doubt that they want to continue to use redistricting as their own personal political, incumbent protection plan.
“Now that the legal mumbo jumbo placed on the ballot as Amendment 7 has been stricken, we can put all of our energies into ensuring the passage of Amendments 5 and 6,” said Jorge Mursuli, President of Democracia. “With voter approval in November, the FairDistricts Amendments will stop Tallahassee politicians from selfishly rigging districts and ensure protection of minority voting rights in Florida.”
In another decision, the Supreme Court ruled to stop a suit intended to remove Amendments 5 and 6 from the ballot. A group of incumbent politicians tried to take a second bite of the apple by raising issues they could have raised earlier.
The court’s decision soundly rejected the politicians’ challenge, thus reaffirming that the FairDistricts Amendments will be on the ballot this November. A YES vote on 5 & 6, will stop politicians from selecting their voters and put power back in the hands of the people.
Amendments 5 and 6 will:
Prohibit politicians from designing districts to favor themselves or their parties; Require them to make the districts compact and community based; and Make it impossible for legislators to draw districts to diminish the ability of minority voters to elect representatives.
