What if politicians picked the voters they wanted instead of the other way around?

Critics of redistricting -- the wonky-sounding but politically charged process of crafting voting districts for members of Congress and the Florida Legislature -- say that's exactly what happens once every decade, after each U.S. Census.

Using sophisticated computer technology that maps voters by party, race, income and even churchgoing frequency, the ruling party in Tallahassee gets to customize districts to protect powerful incumbents and imperil political opponents.

''The system is rigged,'' said Ellen Freidin, campaign chairwoman of FairDistrictsFlorida.org, a nonpartisan group leading a petition drive to overhaul redistricting. ``When legislators sit down to draw the lines, it's like they are sitting down to play poker and they get to pick the cards that they want.''

The group aims to collect 676,811 signatures statewide by Feb. 1. to put two constitutional amendments on the 2010 ballot, before redistricting begins. The amendments say congressional and legislative voting districts should not be designed to favor an incumbent or political party. They should be neatly shaped and take city and county boundaries into account.

In other words, the ideal districts would be nothing like Florida's current map of far-flung, jigsaw-puzzle-like voting boundaries, which divide communities and keep voters guessing about who represents them in Tallahassee and Washington.

When Parkland Mayor Michael Udine recently tried to help constituents grappling with defective Chinese drywall in their homes, he called the city's main representative in Congress, Ron Klein. Turns out U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler represents the affected homeowners on the city's western fringe.

Udine remembered homeowners in the same subdivision fretting that Klein wasn't on their ballots in 2006 even though they knew he was running for Congress.

''A lot of people thought their ballots were messed up,'' Udine said. ``Even I get confused with these jagged lines.''

Not everyone thinks the state's voting boundaries are out of whack. Opposition is expected from Republican legislators on tap to control redistricting after the 2010 census, and also possibly from some black incumbents concerned about job security.

An unlikely alliance between African-American Democrats and Republicans forged the 1992 redistricting map that helped elect Florida's first black members of Congress since Reconstruction and paved the way for the GOP takeover of the Legislature. Black voters were assigned to a small handful of districts to maximize their political clout, while removing the threat they could pose to Republican candidates in neighboring districts.

GOP CHALLENGE

Last year, the Republican-dominated Legislature unsuccessfully challenged the proposed constitutional amendments on redistricting in court. But most black lawmakers have dropped the minority community's long-standing resistance to reform and signed off on the petition drive. So has U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek of Miami, who is vying to be Florida's first black U.S. senator.

State Rep. Joe Gibbons of Hallandale Beach, who led the black caucus when it endorsed the proposed constitutional amendments in April, noted that he and two other black lawmakers represent majority-white voting districts. That proves that African Americans can get elected in voting districts with substantial -- but not overwhelming -- black populations, Gibbons said.

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