State Government New Congressional Maps Passed by Florida House

TALLAHASSEE — The Florida House voted 76-35 Tuesday to re-draw the state's congressional district maps. But the maps created by the House majority's decision are currently at odds with the Senate, which is poised to vote Wednesday for maps with different alignments. The House and Senate must agree to a compromise for a final map by Friday.

The vote comes after the state's Supreme Court ruled in July that the state's current maps are 'gerrymandered,' or aligned for the benefit of incumbents and political parties, and thus violate the Florida constitution.

Despite overwhelmingly voting for the changes, many Republican congressional lawmakers said that the Florida Supreme Court had overstepped their boundaries as the legislature had drawn what they argued were maps in alignment with the state constitution in 2012.

The majority of the vote's dissenters were Democrats, many of whom argue that the legislature's drawing of any congressional maps is inherently flawed as political bias can easily be drawn into the maps, and that a politically neutral panel should instead be doing any and all map-making.

Such a panel remains active in Arizona after the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed its legality in a July decision.