Miami commissioners are not yet ready to accept a new voting map as part of a settlement in a racial gerrymandering lawsuit, expressing concerns that the proposed map wouldn’t guarantee diversity of elected officials, adding further delay to contentious legal battle.
In a 4-0 vote, the Miami City Commission on Thursday deferred a vote on the settlement to the May 23 meeting, with some members saying it was too important of a decision to make without the presence of Commissioner Damian Pardo, who is out of the country for a previously planned engagement. . . .
The new map had been agreed upon by both sides as part of a proposed settlement in a federal lawsuit against the city filed by voting rights activists represented by the American Civil Liberties Union. The settlement required City Commission approval.
Last month, U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore ruled in the case that Miami’s voting map was racially gerrymandered and ordered the city to toss it out. Before the ruling, commissioners had openly stated that the voting map was drawn to ensure the five-member commission comprised three Hispanic, one white and one Black commissioner to guarantee racial diversity of the board’s membership — a policy that Moore said violated the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
A Miami Herald analysis of the proposed new map showed it would lead to only minor changes to the racial makeup of the city’s five voting districts, maintaining Hispanic supermajorities in Districts 1, 3 and 4, and a Black majority in District 5.