Opinion ID: 1756463
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: senate report factors

Text: Florida has a longstanding general history of official discrimination against minorities that has influenced the electoral process. For example, our state constitution of 1885 provides: § 8. Poll tax Section 8. The Legislature shall have power to make the payment of the capitation tax, a prerequisite for voting, and all such taxes received shall go into the school fund. Art. VI, § 8, Fla. Const. (1885), reprinted in 25 Fla. Stat. Ann. 568 (1970). § 12. White and colored; separate schools Section 12. White and colored children shall not be taught in the same school... . Art. XII, § 12, Fla. Const. (1885), reprinted in 25 Fla. Stat. Ann. 617 (1970). § 24. Intermarriage of white persons and negroes prohibited Section 24. All marriages between a white person and a negro, or between a white person and a person of negro descent to the fourth generation, inclusive, are hereby forever prohibited. Art. XVI, § 24, Fla. Const. (1885), reprinted in 25 Fla. Stat. Ann. 645 (1970). As recently as 1967, section 350.20, Florida Statutes, provided in part: The Florida public service commissioners may prescribe reasonable rules and regulations relating to the separation of white and colored passengers in passenger cars being operated in this state by any railroad company or other common carrier. Section 1.01(6), Florida Statutes (1967), further stated in part: The words negro, colored, colored persons, mulatto or persons of color, when applied to persons, include every person having one-eighth or more of African or negro blood. In addition to the state's record of general discrimination against minorities, federal precedent has addressed numerous recent discriminatory election practices in Florida, including at-large election schemes, white primaries, majority-vote requirements, and candidate filing fees. See, e.g., Solomon v. Liberty County, 899 F.2d 1012 (11th Cir.1990) (en banc), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 111 S.Ct. 670, 112 L.Ed.2d 663 (1991); Tallahassee Branch of NAACP v. Leon County, 827 F.2d 1436 (11th Cir.1987), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 960, 109 S.Ct. 402, 102 L.Ed.2d 391 (1988); McMillan v. Escambia County, 748 F.2d 1037 (5th Cir.1984); NAACP v. Gadsen County School Board, 691 F.2d 978 (11th Cir.1982); James v. City of Sarasota, 611 F. Supp. 25 (M.D.Fla. 1985). Because of this history of disfranchisement, it was not until 1964 that a majority of Florida's adult black citizens were registered to vote.
`[R]acial polarization' exists where there is `a consistent relationship between [the] race of the voter and the way in which the voter votes,' or to put it differently, where `black voters and white voters vote differently.' Gingles, 478 U.S. at 53 n. 21, 106 S.Ct. at 2768 n. 21 (citation omitted). The results of Florida's legislative elections over the past ten years establish the presence of this factor. Whites consistently elected whites when they constituted a majority within a district, and blacks elected blacks. Redistricting following the 1980 census took place in Florida in 1982. During subsequent years, blacks and Hispanics were elected to the following state legislative seats (listed in number of seats and percentage of total House and Senate seats): HOUSE (120 seats) Year Black seats Hispanic seats 1982-84 10 (8%) 3 (2.5%) 1984-86 10 (8%) 7 (6%) 1986-88 11 (9%) 7 (6%) 1988-90 10 (8%) 7 (6%) 1990-92 12 (10%) 7 (6%) SENATE (40 seats) Year Black seats Hispanic seats 1982-84 2 (5%) 0 (0%) 1984-86 2 (5%) 0 (0%) 1986-88 2 (5%) 0 (0%) 1988-90 2 (5%) 2 (5%) 1990-92 2 (5%) 3 (7.5%) During these years, only 5 blacks were elected to the state House from districts wherein blacks did not constitute a clear majority. [15] Two of these representatives [16] came from districts [17] wherein blacks constituted a near majority under the 1980 census (49% and 45%) and clear majority under the 1990 census (56% and 60%). The remaining 3 [18] came from districts [19] wherein blacks constituted a significant portion of the population under both the 1980 (33%, 26%, and 26%) and 1990 (33%, 27%, and 29%) counts. Of these 3 districts, only 1 elected a black representative more than once, and this was apparently an anomaly. [20] During this period, no Hispanic was elected to the House from a district wherein Hispanics did not constitute a clear majority. During these same years, only 1 black was elected to the state Senate from a district wherein blacks did not constitute a clear majority. [21] This district contained a near majority of blacks under both the 1980 (49%) and 1990 (48%) counts. No Hispanic was elected to the Senate from a district wherein Hispanics did not constitute a clear majority. Conversely, at each election during this period, in every district wherein blacks constituted a clear or near majority under either census, voters chose to be represented by a black legislator in the House. [22] The same is true of the Senate. [23] At each election subsequent to 1982, in every district wherein Hispanics constituted a clear majority, voters chose to be represented by a Hispanic representative in the House. [24] The same is true of the Senate for elections held subsequent to 1988. [25]
Minorities have historically been under-represented in Florida politics. Although significant portions of Florida's population traditionally have been black or Hispanic, blacks were unable to elect a single representative to the state House from 1889 to 1968. No black representative to the state Senate was elected from the time of Florida's inception until ten years ago, in 1982. No Hispanic state senator was elected until four years ago, in 1988. Florida has sent no black representative to Congress in over a century. Only 1 Hispanic congressperson serves from Florida.