A proposed new voting map in Miami, known as Map 5 or P5, will make minor changes to demographics and political affiliations in several of the city's nonpartisan seats. The new map will go before the Miami City Commission on Thursday as part of a settlement in a racial gerrymandering case, The Miami Herald reports.
The proposed map comes as a result of a contentious legal battle against the city filed by voting rights activists represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which cost Miami over $1.5 million in attorneys' fees racked up by the plaintiffs.
If approved, P5 would be effective for the November 2025 municipal elections and any Special Election before. It is set to unify neighborhoods across the city, including Coconut Grove, Overtown, Allapattah and Edgewater, which were previously divided along racial lines in commission-drawn maps struck down by U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore, earlier this month.
"Today, we celebrate an expected end to this racial gerrymandering lawsuit, with a new map that prioritizes the people over politicians," said Miami-Dade NAACP branch president Daniella Pierre in a news release last week. "Our new map unites Historic Overtown to District 5 and ensures Black residents have an equal voice in local government, as the Voting Rights Act requires."
Prior to Moore's 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 the District Judge said violated the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Now, the P5's new district lines "follow many roads and easily recognizable boundaries, rather than dividing communities and forming irregular appendages," according to Nicholas Warren, an attorney for the ACLU.
But not all neighborhoods are in the same district. Residents in the Shenandoah area, for instance, were disappointed to see their community had been split into Districts 3 and 4, The Miami Herald reports.
"We were hoping for the unification of our neighborhoods under one district," said Lindsay Corrales of the Shenandoah Homeowners Association.
Under the proposed settlement, the incumbent commissioners would continue to serve their current terms despite the map changes. The new map would also make only minor changes to the demographics of voting-age citizens in each district, a Herald data analysis shows.
A Hispanic supermajority would remain in Districts 1,3 and 4. District 5 would remain majority Black, with the percentage of Black voting-age citizens decreasing slightly, from 57.4% to 56.5%, according to the Herald.
After the commission's vote on Thursday— which is expected to pass— the agreement will be submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida for final approval and entry of a consent decree.
"I am extremely pleased with the ruling on the map that will equitably represent all Miami residents," said Clarice Cooper, Coconut Grove resident and GRACE member, in a written statement to The Miami Times. "The new map reunifies historic neighborhoods, such as Coconut Grove, Overtown, Allapattah, etc., that could have been adversely impacted had efforts for a cure not been initiated."
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