Amendments 5 and 6 on next month's ballot in Florida would attempt to reform how the state's voting districts are drawn.
Although it's backers say they are bi-partisan, most Democrats support the measures and most Republicans don't, essentially because the intention is to create voting districts that might end up changing the status quo, which in Tallahassee is dominated by Republicans in both the state House and Senate (although the fact of the matter is is that the Legislature went Republican back in 1996 from lines drawn up when the Democrats were in charge).
Not all Democrats support the measures. Notably, some African-American legislators, like Jacksonville area Congresswoman Corrine Brown, have expressed concerns that changes from the current system could hurt their chances of being re-elected.
This article appears in Oct 7-13, 2010.