Following the Decennial Census, all district lines, where population is the deciding factor, must be redrawn to equalize the districts. This must be done long before the Qualifying Dates of June 13-17, 2022 for those offices so candidates can choose which district to run in.
The Florida Legislature is charged with drawing the lines for US Congress in Florida, Florida Senate and Florida House of Representatives. In 2010, Florida Voters passed the Fair District Amendments, adding standards for drawing those lines to the Florida Constitution.
- No apportionment plan or district shall be drawn with the intent to favor or disfavor a political party or an incumbent; and
- districts shall not be drawn with the intent or result of denying or abridging the equal opportunity of racial or language minorities to participate in the political process or to diminish their ability to elect representatives of their choice; and
- districts shall consist of contiguous territory.
- Unless compliance with the standards in this subsection conflicts with the standards in subsection (2)(a) or with federal law, districts shall be as nearly equal in population as is practicable; (Congressional Districts must have exact population count)
- districts shall be compact; and
- districts shall, where feasible, utilize existing political and geographical boundaries.
Section a and b must be followed, c-f have no order of priority. All of this must be done with citizen input.
There are 40 Florida Senate districts, 120 Florida House districts and 28 Congressional Districts in Florida.
Voters in Broward County added the Fair District Standards to the Broward County Charter in 2018 as well as the mandate to use a Florida College of University to actually draw the lines following those standards. This year, the County Commission chose Florida International University for their expertise. The School Board also chose Florida International University to realign their districts and also followed the Fair District Standards.