Drawing fair districts

I’ve seen many articles about redistricting in Florida. I can remember when it was called gerrymandering.

That meant drawing districts to get white officials elected, leaving out minorities. Now they draw districts that look like meandering snakes to get minorities elected. Many of those districts have groups that have become “new” minorities, and they have to be represented by “old” minorities.

There is some rationale to that political philosophy, except the geography of those new districts does not always fit the needs of those living in that district.

The necessity for roads, wetland preservation, housing density and other factors varies widely within those district lines. It still should be called gerrymandering, though the overall intent — to give everyone a say in how they are governed — is more admirable.

This story was originally published July 15, 2015 at 8:34 PM with the headline "Drawing fair districts."