Jonathan Allen

(Reuters] – A variety of voting rights groups sued Florida to challenge its new congressional map. The lawsuit claimed it unfairly diluted Black residents’ vote power in favor of Republicans.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the law into effect on Friday, and he is backing this new map. After some protestors from the Democratic Party, Black legislators staged a sit in during the debates, the new map passed both the House of Representatives and the State Senate.

Florida’s redistricting was completed in 2000 by every other state, so it could be a key factor in the election results in November.

Black Voters Matter, The League of Women Voters of Florida, and several other rights groups joined together to contest the map before a Tallahassee court.

Plaintiffs claim that the amended map infringes on the state constitution, by favoring one political party over non-white voters and reducing their voting power.

The document names Laurel Lee (Florida Secretary of State), Attorney General Ashley Moody (State Senate and House), and several other legislators as defendants. Requests for comment were not received by the defendants immediately.

According to the lawsuit, the court is asked to stop the use of the map in the current year’s midterm election and require that a new one drawn to conform to the Florida constitution.

DeSantis’ map would likely give Republicans control of 20 of the state’s 28 districts, four more than they currently hold.

Republicans need to flip five seats nationally to take the majority in the U.S. House, which would allow them to block much of Democratic President Joe Biden’s agenda.

Advocates claim the plan is in violation of the law because it reduces the number Black districts to just two. DeSantis has argued that the map is “race neutral” and that the current map is racially gerrymandered in an unconstitutional way.