FairDistricts Exceeds Statewide Goal for House Parties to Support Amendments 5 & 6
Liz Sharpe-Taylor
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Kelly Penton, 786-258-2649
August 30, 2010 Ke...@FairDistrictsFlorida.org
FairDistricts Exceeds Statewide Goal for House Parties to Support Amendments 5 & 6
Jacksonville House Party guests talk about why Amendments 5 & 6 are important for Florida.
(L-R) Venetta Oglesby, Tarsha Boss, Tunita Pool, and Robin Browne.
Venice house party guests sign in and pick up educational materials about Amendments 5 & 6.
(L-R) Lynn Jordan, Jean Nuttall, Francesca Lund, and David Medeiros.
On the weekend of Saturday, August 28, 2010, Floridians signed up to host more than 56 house parties in support of Amendments 5 and 6, exceeding the goal set by FairDistrictsFlorida.org. A total of 66 hosts signed up to open their homes to friends, colleagues, and neighbors to educate them about how the FairDistricts Amendments will change Florida for decades to come.
“We had nearly 40 people at our house party. They were all able to gain a deeper understanding of the significance of these reforms to the future of Florida,” said Venice house party host Francesca Lund. “We gained many supporters of Amendments 5 and 6.”
Guests learned about how FairDistricts Amendments 5 & 6 will add new rules to the State Constitution for politicians to follow when they redraw district lines, to make sure they protect our interests, not their own. They heard personal testimonies from others in their community about why they support 5 & 6, watched exclusive Florida outtakes from the movie Gerrymandering (to be released in theatres in October), and took home educational materials about the amendments.
“I knew that the system in Tallahassee is broken and needs to be changed, but had no idea that in reality politicians are choosing their voters and elections are pre-determined before we even get to the polls,” said Jacksonville house party host Demetria Bland. “I felt good knowing that just by opening my home, I was spreading the word about this solution to this serious problem.”
With voter approval on November 2, Amendments 5 and 6 will establish constitutional rules that will:
- Prohibit politicians from designing districts to favor themselves or their parties;
- Require them to make the districts compact and community based; and
- Make it impossible for legislators to draw districts to diminish the ability of minority voters to elect representatives.
To view more photos from house parties across Florida, please visit the FairDistrictsFlorida Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/album.php?aid=271369&id=313847464740 .
For more information about Amendments 5 and 6, please visit www.fairdistrictsflorida.org.
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Liz Sharpe-Taylor
Director of New Media
Fair Districts Florida
Cell: 573-444-1549
Fax: 786-522-0522