From the Orlando Sentinel Blog:

Even though the redistricting measure wasn’t approved by state lawmakers until the final day of the session, the measure was sent to the Secretary of State’s office ahead of other ballot measures that had been approved days and weeks earlier.

That means the measure – HJR 7231 – will appear on the ballot as Amendment 7. The redistricting amendments pushed by FairDistrictsFlorida.org are Amendment 5 and Amendment 6.

“It makes practical and logical sense to position HJR 7231 with the other reapportionment amendments,’’ said Jaryn Emhof, a spokeswoman for Senate President Jeff Atwater.

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From Sunshine State News:

It appears that Floridians will vote in November on competing ballot initiatives on redistricting — and Democrats are divided on which option is better.

More than 1.7 million Floridians signed petitions calling for changes to the ways the Legislature draws up congressional and state legislative seats. Sponsored by Fair Districts Florida, the petitions placed two amendments on the November ballot that require legislators to create geographically compact districts and prohibit them from creating districts that favor certain incumbents or political parties.

Republicans — and some key Democrats — in the Legislature oppose the amendments and have moved their own through committees that would clarify the Fair District measures and have redistricting follow existing federal guidelines.

Democrats from both the House and Senate spoke out against the clarifying amendments on Thursday morning. “There’s no need for it,” said Rep. Perry Thurston of Plantation. “It’s going to cause confusion.”

The Democrats argued that the clarifying amendments would not help minority voters.

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