The trial phase of the Florida State Senate Redistricting drama was expected to wind down today, but not before 2 days of testy testimony offered up by several redistricting experts and Florida State Senator Bill Galvano (R-Bradenton). Galvano, Senate Redistricting Chairman, was subjected to some intense questioning by David King, attorney for the plaintiffs in this case.
The map submitted to the court by the Senate combined two other base maps drawn by redistricting aides before the October special session. The plaintiffs argued that the Senate map was most favorable to Republicans and worked to avoid the prospect of GOP incumbents opposing each other in primaries. At one point, King asked Galvano “Isn’t it correct through the history of this litigation…the coincidences just kept happening?” “it’s just pure luck… you keep rolling sevens on in pairing of incumbents?”. Galvano pushed back on the suggestion, stating, “Call it what you want, it was not anything that was engineered”. He insisted he did not know the political performance of the map before it was presented to the Court. “That is not the way we approached it. There was no instruction whatsoever that you even should find out where people live….there was a lot at stake and we want to have a constitutional map”. After Galvano’s testimony, the Senate presented into evidence emails from 2011 that showed a company used by the coalition groups discussing how to create additional seats for Democrats; coalition attorneys argued these standards were not used when drawing up the map they submitted.Also testifying on Wednesday was John O’Neill, consultant for the voting rights coalition plaintiffs. Lawyers for the Senate grilled O’Neill about those 2011 emails, implying that he was evasive during depositions earlier this month and his inability to remember details about the emails.
On Tuesday, the court heard testimony from an academic expert, Professor Baodong Liu, a University of Utah political science professor who reviewed minority voting patterns as it related to Senate redistricting.
Do you think the 2nd Amendment will be destroyed by the Biden Administration?(2)
Even if the trial ends today, Leon County Circuit Court Judge George Reynolds was not expected to render an immediate decision in this case. Many County Supervisors of Elections are hoping for a decision by March, allowing for time to determine voter precincts ahead of the 2016 election season.