Oops! Lawmakers destroyed redistricting records (Florida)

[Baitball Blogger]

TALLAHASSEE -- In new court filings, House and Senate Republican leaders are conceding they deleted records related to the 2012 re-drawing of congressional and legislative maps.

The voting-rights groups -- including the League of Women Voters, Common Cause, and individual voters -- challenging Florida's re-drawn congressional maps notified a Leon County court Wednesday that they intended to place House and Senate officials under oath to find out what documents were destroyed and why.

"The admission that redistricting records were destroyed should have Florida voters up in arms," League President Deirdre Macnab said in a statement.

But House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, shot back that the "accusation that the Florida House ... thwarted the law and destroyed documents is completely false."

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/blogs/political-pulse/os-oops-lawmakers-destroyed-redistricting-records-20131218,0,4630250.post

[LonePirate]

1. Sounds like a non-partisan group or commission should redraw the maps.

Make the districts as compact as possible with sensible boundaries. Population size should be the sole (or primary) determinant for district inclusion/exclusion. Other factors such as party registration, age, income, race, etc. should have no bearing on district composition.

Start in the panhandle and move east and south. Once a district has reached its maximum population, draw a clean and sensible border and move to the next district. This is not a difficult task.

[Gothmog]

2. The term Spoliation will be applicable

Spoliation is the legal concept that when one side destroys a document then the fact finder is free to assume that the document hurt that party's case. The court should sanction the GOP and assume that the documents destroyed are negative to the GOP positions