Andrew Pantazi - The Tributary
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A judge struck down the city's earlier map as racial gerrymandering, but it’s not clear that the council has enough votes to approve new map.
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City Council President Terrance Freeman said City Council will pass a new map by Nov. 4, four days before the court’s deadline — while still appealing the court ruling.
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At the same time, City Council has decided to start creating new maps to comply with a court order that found the city's redistricting unconstitutional.
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U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard found that City Council diluted Black voting power by packing Black voters into four districts.
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U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard didn’t say which way she was going to rule, but she plans to file a written order that either strikes down or preserves the Jacksonville City Council and Duval School Board districts that plaintiffs say were racially gerrymandered.
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The groups say Jacksonville City Council's redistricting plans should be overturned before the 2023 election because the new maps disenfranchise Black voters.
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The mayoral race highlights how Florida’s campaign finance laws make it easy to hide money and court big-dollar donations.
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Sheriff Mike Williams sold his Jacksonville home and moved to suburban Nassau County more than a year ago even as he continued serving as Duval County’s sheriff. He said he has no plans to step down as sheriff.
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Circuit Judge J. Layne Smith ordered the state to adopt a map that maintains an east-to-west version of Jacksonville’s 5th Congressional District, stretching from Duval to Gadsden counties. Gov. Ron DeSantis had called that idea racial gerrymandering.
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Civil rights groups allege that the map approved by City Council reduces Black voting power by illegally packing those residents into a few districts.