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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s a new hurdle in the fight for representation as Lee County commissioners pick a new districting map with few changes despite calls from minority groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those minority groups said their voices were not heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tuesday night\u2019s redistricting debate came down to seven different maps, but Lee County commissioners could only pick one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many organizations spoke in favor of a map that joins Dunbar with the city of Fort Myers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The NAACP favored a different map which created a majority-minority district combining metropolitan Fort Myers and Lehigh Acres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But in the end, three out of five commissioners chose the map that maintained the status quo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why I picked map 5, it has the least changes,\u201d said Lee County Commissioner Cecil Pendergrass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lee County commissioners and the county attorney said the new map meets the legal criteria, but nothing is final until the commissioners officially adopt the new map on Nov. 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The NAACP and other organizations said they will explore every option to get a more representative map, including taking the county to court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI get very uncomfortable when we start dividing ourselves by any racial issue,\u201d said Lee County Commissioner Ray Sandelli. \u201cThe biggest thing for me is where is the equity big picture and numbers because everybody counts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But those against the chosen map feel like they don\u2019t count or like their voices are heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAfter 10 years, they kept the status quo and everything remains the same which leads me to believe they\u2019re not listening to the community, they\u2019re not listening to the minorities,\u201d said Mike Love, co-chairperson for the redistricting committee for the NAACP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about the law. It\u2019s about the constitution. It\u2019s about the Voting Rights Act,\u201d Love said. \u201cWe want to be able to choose the person that we think will best represent our interests.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Love said he and others are not ready to let it go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The map commissioners chose gerrymanders Dunbar, Fort Myers\u2019 predominantly Black community, said Audrea Anderson, with Southwest Florida Voices for Racial Justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was a total lack of sensitivity to members of a community,\u201d Anderson said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On November 2, 2021 the Lee Board of County Commissioners directed Map Alternative 5 to be published for adoption consideration on November 16, 2021 Maintain the status quo or make a change. There\u2019s… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":51126,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,32],"tags":[838],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51125"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51125"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51127,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51125\/revisions\/51127"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}