‘They’re not listening to the minorities’: Lee County commissioners choose redistricting map with fewest changes

Reporter: Breana Ross
Published: Updated:
Lee County commissioners are set to adopt a redistricting map with little change, ignoring the pleas of minorities. (CREDIT: WINK News)

Maintain the status quo or make a change.

There’s 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.

Those minority groups said their voices were not heard.

Tuesday night’s redistricting debate came down to seven different maps, but Lee County commissioners could only pick one.

Many organizations spoke in favor of a map that joins Dunbar with the city of Fort Myers.

The NAACP favored a different map which created a majority-minority district combining metropolitan Fort Myers and Lehigh Acres.

But in the end, three out of five commissioners chose the map that maintained the status quo.

“That’s why I picked map 5, it has the least changes,” said Lee County Commissioner Cecil Pendergrass.

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