Florida lawmakers next week will meet in Tallahassee for a special session on mid-decade congressional redistricting.
The controversial plan to draw new maps, which the Republican-controlled Legislature could vote to reject, has drawn widespread concern over possible violations of Florida’s constitutional protections against partisan gerrymandering.
But even if lawmakers approve new maps that don’t violate those laws, redistricting on such short notice could strain local election officials and risk confusing and discouraging voters from participating in this year’s elections, Osceola County Supervisor of Elections Mary Jane Arrington said during Central Florida Public Media’s Engage in the Community event on Thursday.
‘A costly adventure’
Typically, changes to voting districts come every 10 years after each U.S. Census. When districts change, election officials work to inform voters about their new districts and voting locations.
Those efforts cost money and resources, said Arrington. For that reason, counties plan around that every-decade schedule to ensure that they have enough time and staff to devote to organizing ahead of those elections.
But election officials weren’t planning to tackle another redistricting again so soon after the last map was approved in 2022. One concern of Arrington is that counties might not allocate resources to educate voters on changes due to redistricting.
“It definitely is not in my budget, but I have a good county commission that supports us if we need additional funding,” Arrington said. “It will be a lot of overtime hours, and the cost is, I don't think anyone has even considered the cost of this, not only to local governments through the supervisor of elections, but the cost of the special session and all of that. I mean, this is a costly adventure.”
And there’s another challenge: Transparency. Gov. Ron DeSantis hasn’t publicly released a draft of his map proposal, leaving election officials unable to plan around those potential changes before deliberations begin.
Confusing changes
On Election Day in Florida, voters must cast their ballots in designated precincts unless they vote by mail, because each precinct has its own ballots tailored to its voters and the political offices they’re deciding.
New voting maps could split up existing precincts, which would force election offices to reorganize their local precinct maps and notify their voters about the changes.
New maps also could change the candidates that qualify for federal office, leading to late candidate registration.
“That's something else we'll see, is voters will go to the polls, and when they get there, they will wonder where a person is on their ballot, because they've come to vote for that person, and they're not there, and they don't understand the process that has just taken place,” Arrington explained.
The result, she said, would be voters who are confused and frustrated by the new maps, even with election officials spending extra time and money to help educate them.
Adding to that confusion, Florida lawmakers this year approved new changes to state elections procedures. If signed, they wouldn’t take effect until 2027.
“And I hate to tell y'all, voters do not pay attention,” Arrington said.
Besides deepening distrust in government, she worries that those factors could reduce voter participation in the primaries and midterms.
“I definitely think it could affect turnout, because people, voters get frustrated. … A government to the average person is complicated, and the harder we make it, the less likely someone is to vote,” she said.
Looming deadlines
Election officials across Florida must follow the state’s strict deadlines that govern voting, registration and ballots. Most of those dates don’t change, even if lawmakers adopt new maps.
DeSantis originally had scheduled the special session for this week, which already would have compressed the timeline to enact those changes locally.
He has since delayed it to April 28, further pushing back the window for voters and election officials to understand the changes, inform voters and accept and review candidacy paperwork if there are changes to the maps.
Meeting those deadlines, Arrington said, is “the biggest obstacle I see right now.
“It took us three or four months to redistrict in [20]22 [after the Census]. We're down to 60 days. I have to mail out overseas and military ballots by July 4. Ours are planned to go out July 3. That really doesn't give us a lot of time.”
Adding even more uncertainty to the timing, voting advocacy groups are likely to sue the state over any new districts. That could lead to a judge discarding the new maps to avoid confusing voters, leaving local officials scrambling to comply with the current maps.
