I received the following email from the ACLU of Florida regarding the Fair Districts Florida campaign to stop district-rigging. Help give voters a real voice in choosing their representatives. Only Florida residents registered to vote in the state can sign the petitions. If you know someone in Florida, please pass this along.

Dear grlpatriot,

Last week we told you about our work with the Fair Districts Florida Coalition. We are building momentum and working toward creating fair districts in Florida but we still need your help to create constitutionally mandated standards that will require fairness, not partisanship, in the reapportionment process that would stop members of the Legislature from rigging the process to benefit themselves.

Sign both petitions today and bring positive change to Florida.

The Florida Supreme Court has approved the placement of two proposals on the ballot in November 2010. Between now and then we need to collect 1.6 million signatures… not an easy task, but with your help we can accomplish it and move one step closer to fair districts.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that we aren’t the only ones who think fair districts are a good idea. Today’s Palm Beach Post editorial says that “gerrymandering [is] not just a power grab but a science.” The editors go on to point out that computer technology allows powerful politicians to carve out their own district with the constituents they desire. Read the Palm Beach Post editorial here.

On Sunday the Tallahassee Democrat wrote that “map-drawing is so technologically refined these days that you can almost draw a district line down the middle of someone’s living room in a house where the wife is known to vote Democratic and the husband goes for the GOP.” Read the Tallahassee Democrat editorial here.

Congressional and legislative districts should be drawn to give each voter approximate equality, which can be achieved by ensuring not only that each district is composed of about the same number of voters, but that each district also is composed of compact and contiguous areas.

Sign the petitions today and be part of the change to help establish constitutionally mandated fairness standards that will stop these lawmakers from drawing district lines that only benefit themselves.

Pd. Pol. Adv. sponsored and paid for by the ACLU of Florida, 4500 Biscayne Blvd., Suite 340, Miami, FL 33137

Download the petitions (PDF) or fill them out online, then print to sign and mail them in.

Note: Only Florida residents registered to vote in the state may sign the petitions. Fill out all information as it appears on your voter registration card to ensure validity and accuracy. Tape or staple the petitions together. Mail completed petitions to the address below. Don’t forget to sign and date both petitions!

FairDistrictsFlorida.org
P.O. Box 350188
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33335

For more information on the Fair Districts Florida Coalition, check out: http://fairdistrictsflorida.org/

Crossposted at Alegre’s Corner and Partizane.