The Balance of Power in Florida Counties.
In 1965, the United States Congress voted overwhelmingly in favor of President Lyndon Johnson's Voting Rights Act. Although most southern states opposed this legislation, the House of Representatives passed the bill by a 333-48 margin with the Senate registering a 77-19 count. While the initial emphasis of this legislation was to empower the federal government with the right to register minority voters whom states had denied suffrage, the overarching aim would eventually be to provide for equal representation of all races. Even in the deep South, where opposition to the Voting Rights Act was strongest, the balance of power has been shifted to reflect a better pattern of ethnic representation. The chart below depicts the number of black Congressman from 1868 to 1992 and shows that there is a clear effect brought about the passage of this legislation in 1965.
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Black Legislators from 1868 to 1992.
Source: Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Voting Section.
From the chart, it is obvious that blacks have made significant gains since 1964 when there were none in Congress. But what is the impact of the Voting Rights Act in Florida, and, in particular in Florida's counties where local government has a more immediate impact on the everyday lives of citizens?.
Florida's elected members of the United States House of Representatives(1) show a close approximation to the percentage of voters based on race for the currently seated congress, with 3 Black and 3 Hispanic representatives included in the delegation of 25. Using 2000 census data(2), the percentage of black voters is 14.2%, while Hispanics make up about 16.8% of the population. These percentages reflect that Florida would require 3.5 Blacks and 4.2 Hispanics to serve in its delegation. Thus, the delegation does closely resemble its population in terms of race, even though it is slightly low on both Black and Hispanic.
