The numbers matter

To complicate matters, FIU’s maps renumber commission districts in a way that some Hispanics say would hurt them politically.

Here’s how. All four even-numbered districts are up for election in 2022, and the five odd-numbered seats are not up until 2024. Sharief is in District 8, but the new maps move much of her district to Moskowitz’s renumbered District 7, while District 8 becomes a majority-Black seat in central Broward. Under those district numbers, Hispanics would have to wait till 2024 to try to win a seat.

“There’s no clear-cut reason to move the numbers around. That idea was never presented to us or discussed,” complains Alexandra Davis, a Miramar commissioner and Jamaican-American who’s running for the District 8 seat.

Inexplicably, and over the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board’s objections, the county refused to preserve audio or video recordings of any of the seven redistricting hearings, even though the county charter requires the process to be “open and transparent.” That could become a legal issue if the final map is challenged in court. Commissioner Steve Geller, who was mayor at the time, added a seventh hearing on Oct. 30, but like the others, it was not recorded.

The Sun Sentinel requested sign-in sheets of speakers, but no verbatim record of the hearings exists. The county has said it wanted speakers to feel “uninhibited.” Considering the many legal implications of redistricting, that decision was unwise.

After decades of powerlessness and discrimination at the hands of white politicians, Black residents of Broward made historic advances at the ballot box in 2020. In a watershed election, Black candidates swept to victories in five key county-wide positions: sheriff, state attorney, public defender, supervisor of elections and clerk of courts.

The same cannot be said for Hispanics, even though they now represent a larger share of the county’s population. Redistricting can help right that wrong, if the lines are drawn properly. The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Editorial Page Editor Dan Sweeney, and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson. Editorials are the opinion of the Board and written by one of its members or a designee. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.