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At the League's 2022 Convention, LWVUS board president and associate medical director of Planned Parenthood North Central States, Dr. Deborah Ann Turner, made remarks in response to the Supreme Court of the US's decision to overturn the constitutional right to abortion. Watch her speech in full at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z61BsWbLPj0&t=2s

A Circuit Court judge threw out Florida's new congressional map drawn by the governor and approved by legislators, ordering a new map drawn by a Harvard expert to be put in place.

Judge Layne Smith, in a ruling from the bench after a four-hour hearing, found DeSantis’ map unconstitutional under the Fair Districts Amendment of the Florida Constitution “because it diminishes the African Americans’ ability to select the representative of their choice.” Judge Layne Smith, who served in the administration of former Gov. Rick Scott, was appointed to the county bench by Scott and later appointed to the circuit court by DeSantis.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay in League of Women Voters of Florida v. Lee. The initial lawsuit was brought by the League of Women Voters of Florida, Black Voters Matters Fund, Florida Alliance for Retired Americans and individual voters challenging Florida’s Senate Bill 90 (2021).

With the stay, the appellate court has ordered that the changes to the law made by the trial court’s ruling will not go into effect until a further ruling from the appellate court. The appeal of the case will move forward and parties will make arguments before the appellate court. The League believes that the appellate court will be persuaded by the evidence of voter suppression presented by the various plaintiffs upon appellate review.

Census data was delivered to local city council and commissioners August 12, which began the redistricting process. While many focus on the statewide redistricting committee assignments and map drawing in the senate and house, it is equally important that we pay attention to the process at the local level. we encourage you to attend or listen to the recordings of the redistricting meetings for your county.


Clay County Redistricting
www.claycountygov.com

Duval County Redistricting Special Committee
https://www.coj.net/city-council/standing-committees/redistricting-special-committee

St Johns County Redistricting Meetings
https://www.stjohns.k12.fl.us/redistricting/

We have an ongoing opportunity to participate with ACLU of Florida in notifying Florida voters who have their voter registrations marked for removal from the voter rolls on how they can ensure they can continue to be registered to vote.

If you are interested in participating in this training and opportunity, you can sign up at the ACLU Prevent Voter Purge Phone Bank.

ACLU of Florida provides a brief training on how to use their system to connect with voters, and an organizer assists throughout the duration of the phone bank to address questions. Once you are trained and have access to the system, you can make calls at your convenience throughout the month.

This opportunity is nonpartisan.
https://www.mobilize.us/aclufl/event/394061/