Gainesville residents sounded off on how Florida's districts should be shaped in the coming years at the Santa Fe College Fine Arts Hall on Wednesday.
The meeting, which is the last of five public redistricting meetings in northeast and north central Florida, aimed to give residents a chance to share their opinions on the issue of redrawing the state's political boundaries, which are redrawn every 10 years right after the U. S. Census.
The purpose of redrawing a state's congressional, Senate and House boundaries is to keep an equal number of the population in each district, in turn giving each state resident equal congressional representation.
However, some are skeptical that boundary lines are drawn to favor certain political parties and to protect incumbents.
Manny Lucoff, a Gainesville resident and UF alumnus, believes such practices may happen anyway.
"The timeline has been turned around. Why? To protect the incumbents," Lucoff said. "It's unfortunate, but that's the way hardball politics is played."
Another prominent concern was the absence of drafted maps projecting what the new districts, which will be approved between January and March of 2012, may look like.
"We believe that puts the cart before the horse," said state Rep. Steve Precourt.
In addition to new district boundaries, two districts will be added to Florida's congressional districts, bumping the number from 25 to 27. In addition, the ideal population in each district will rise by 57,050 in congressional districts, 70,434 in Senate districts and 23,492 in the House districts.
An assistant hands state Sen. John Thrasher a microphone as state Sen. Don Gaetz speaks at the Public Redistricting Meeting at the Fine Arts Hall at Santa Fe College Wednesday evening.
