Meanwhile in Florida . . .

[General Zod]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/j ... -districts

A circuit court judge ruled late Thursday that the Florida legislature illegally redrew the state's congressional districts in 2012 to benefit Republicans.

Circuit Judge Terry Lewis slammed political operatives in his ruling, saying they "made a mockery of the Legislature's transparent and open process of redistricting" while "going to great lengths to conceal from the public their paln [sic] and their participation in it," as quoted by the Tampa Bay Times. While the judge concluded that GOP operatives "did in fact conspire to manipulate and influence the redistricting process," he did not determine that legislative leaders were in on the scheme.

Lewis ordered that the state's 5th and 10th congressional districts, represented by Reps. Corrine Brown (D) and Daniel Webster (R), respectively, be redrawn, according to the newspaper. Neighboring districts would also be affected by those changes.

The lawsuit was brought by a coalition of groups including the League of Women Voters that accused Republicans of manipulating Florida's political map to favor the GOP, according to the New York Times.

A spokeswoman for the Republican Party of Florida told the New York Times that party officials weren't yet prepared to comment. The state was expected to appeal the ruling, though, so the decision is unlikely to affect this year's elections.

Please tell me again why voting twice is the most important form of voting fraud we need to be concerned with?

[Purple]

Please tell me again why voting twice is the most important form of voting fraud we need to be concerned with?

Because voting twice is an act that can be done by both the party which is currently in power and the party which is not currently in power where as things such as this can only be done by the party which is currently in power. Thus it is in the best interests of the party which is currently in power to go after one but not the other.

[Lagmonster]

I was under the impression that gerrymandering was perfectly legal in the US, except for reasons of racial segregation?

[General Zod]

I was under the impression that gerrymandering was perfectly legal in the US, except for reasons of racial segregation?

It's technically not legal, but it's hard enough to prove that a lot of politicians can get away with it anyway.

[TimothyC]

Please tell me again why voting twice is the most important form of voting fraud we need to be concerned with?

Because both sides use gerrymandering to benefit themselves.

[Kingmaker]

I was under the impression that gerrymandering was perfectly legal in the US, except for reasons of racial segregation?

Sort of. The current stance is that partisan gerrymandering could be illegal, but the present lack of standards as to what constitutes gerrymandering effectively prohibits courts from ruling on it.

[Simon_Jester]

There is apparently some law in place under which the redistricting can be challenged- I don't know enough to know what it is off the top of my head, but it's clearly not as simple as "but isn't gerrymandering legal?"

[Lost Soal]

There is apparently some law in place under which the redistricting can be challenged- I don't know enough to know what it is off the top of my head, but it's clearly not as simple as "but isn't gerrymandering legal?"

The Fair Districts amendment of the Florida Constitution.

Section 20. Standards for establishing congressional district boundaries

In establishing Congressional district boundaries:

(1) No apportionment plan or individual district shall be drawn with the intent to favor or disfavor a political party or an incumbent; and districts 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; and districts shall consist of contiguous territory.

(2) Unless compliance with the standards in this subsection conflicts with the standards in subsection (1) or with federal law, districts shall be as nearly equal in population as is practicable; districts shall be compact; and districts shall, where feasible, utilize existing political and geographical boundaries.

(3) The order in which the standards within sub-sections (1) and (2) of this section are set forth shall not be read to establish any priority of one standard over the other within that subsection

[General Zod]

Please tell me again why voting twice is the most important form of voting fraud we need to be concerned with?

Because both sides use gerrymandering to benefit themselves.

That's funny, and here I was thinking it's because "voting twice" doesn't have any sort of impact beyond the election it supposedly happens in. Gerrymandering? That's a good way to fuck up elections for decades once it's done.

[Lord of the Abyss]

Please tell me again why voting twice is the most important form of voting fraud we need to be concerned with?

Because it's an almost completely imaginary problem that can be used to disenfranchise the poor and black people.

[Grumman]

Please tell me again why voting twice is the most important form of voting fraud we need to be concerned with?

Voting twice is far more open and shut - you are allowed to vote either zero or one time in the election, and if you attempt to vote more than that, you are clearly in the wrong. Gerrymandering is much more of a "I'll know it when I see it" situation, and is not always considered bad - if the state has X representatives and 1/Xth of the population shares common concerns, you can certainly argue that it is a good thing if they have a single representative to act as their voice in parliament, even if they do not live in a neat rectangle.

[Gaidin]

Tampa Bay Times wrote a slightly more detailed article than the one in the OP.

TALLAHASSEE — A judge threw out Florida's congressional map late Thursday, ruling that the Legislature allowed for a "secret, organized campaign" by partisan operatives to subvert the redistricting process in violation of the state Constitution.

In a 41-page ruling, Leon County Circuit Court Judge Terry Lewis said that two of the state's 27 districts are invalid and must be redrawn, along with any other districts affected by them, to bring the map into compliance with the state's new Fair District amendments.

The case, brought by a coalition led by the League of Women Voters, is expected to be appealed and ultimately decided by the Florida Supreme Court.

Any change in the political lines for Congress would have a ripple effect on other races, and raised questions on when the map would be redrawn.

Lewis rejected challenges to districts in South Florida and Tampa Bay, but said that District 5, held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown of Jacksonville, and District 10, held by Republican U.S. Rep. Dan Webster of Winter Garden "will need to be redrawn, as will any other districts affected thereby."

The judge agreed with the coalition's prime argument: that Republican legislators and staffers collaborated with political consultants to create "a shadow redistricting process" that protected incumbents and the GOP.

"We were extremely gratified," said David King, lead attorney for the plaintiffs. "It's gratifying when the court accepts and understands your argument."

Legislative leaders said in a statement they are reviewing the ruling and would not comment.

The 13-day trial lifted the veil on the once-a-decade process of redrawing political boundaries and was rife with political intrigue that involved numerous side lawsuits, a closed hearing to keep the testimony of GOP consultant Pat Bainter off the public record, and closing briefs filled with redacted references to Bainter's documents.

Lewis defended his decision to allow documents from Bainter into the record, although he agreed to close the courtroom and seal the documents to do it.

"The evidence was highly relevant and not available from other sources," he wrote, "… to show how extensive and organized" the shadow map-making process was "and what lengths they went in order to conceal what they were doing."

Lewis said political consultants "made a mockery of the Legislature's transparent and open process of redistricting" while "going to great lengths to conceal from the public their plan and their participation in it."

"They were successful in their efforts to influence the redistricting process and the congressional plan under review here," he wrote. "And they might have successfully concealed their scheme and their actions from the public had it not been for the Plaintiffs' determined efforts to uncover it in this case."

He concluded that the circumstantial evidence proved that the political operatives "managed to find other avenues … to infiltrate and influence the Legislature."

Lewis drew no conclusions that House Speaker Will Weatherford, former House Speaker Dean Cannon and Senate President Don Gaetz were aware of the scheme, but he raised doubts that they were not in some way complicit. The judge detailed the involvement of Cannon's aide, Kirk Pepper, and repeated evidence that came out at trial about Pepper forwarding draft maps to GOP operative Marc Reichelderfer.

Lewis also noted that legislative leaders and the political operatives destroyed almost all of their emails and other documents related to redistricting and concluded that the circumstantial evidence surrounding all of those developments, and the evidence that the consultants attempted to influence the same districts he has found problematic, proved the GOP operatives were trying to influence the process.

"There is no legal duty on the part of the Legislature to preserve these records, but you have to wonder why they didn't,'' he wrote. "Litigation over their plans was 'a moral certainty' as their lawyers put it earlier in the case, and intent would be a key issue in any challenge."

Lewis tore apart the defense of the most controversial district in Florida's map — District 5, a snake-shaped boundary that runs from Jacksonville to Orlando and was first drawn by a court 20 years ago when Brown was first elected.

Lewis said the changes made to the other district, 10, "benefited the incumbent Representative Webster" and violated the Fair Districts rules.

Lewis also raised questions about the decision by House and Senate leaders to ignore the potential political performance of most districts they drew and why they didn't concern themselves with the authors of publicly submitted maps.

"Turning a blind eye to the probability of improper intent in these maps is not the same as neutrality," he wrote.

Also, the 41-page decision, for those that are interested.