Electoral redistricting and reapportionment: Options for Florida

Congressional redistricting has become one of the many flashpoints resulting from Florida's uneven and ethnically diverse population growth. The Fourteenth Amendment's declaration that government may not "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws" seems to have been taken to the extreme by creating congressional districts specifically based on race and ethnicity. This paper investigates alternatives to racial/ethnic gerrymandering. Methods such as proportional representation, cumulative and preference voting, including multi-member districts will be considered. The study contends that even conventional districts can provide fair representation when based on major man-made and natural geographic features.