2 House members switch votes on GOP map redraw. One blamed ‘commotion’ over a bullhorn

Confusion on the House floor ahead of a vote to approve a new congressional map proposed by Gov. Ron DeSantis led two Democrats — Reps. Allison Tant of Tallahassee and Marie Woodson of Hollywood — to initially cast “yes” votes on the measure.

They have since switched their votes to “no,” though the proposal nevertheless passed and will soon be en route to the Governor’s desk.

Woodson, who said she voted “yes” for herself and Tant, thinking it was a quorum call, blamed Jacksonville Democratic Rep. Angie Nixon for the confusion.

Nixon briefly preempted the vote with a small, hot-pink megaphone, shouting “This is a violation of the Constitution.”

“I inadvertently voted yes because of the commotion with the bullhorn on the floor; I thought it was a quorum call,” she said in a statement on the House website. She told Florida Politics she also pushed the “yea” button for Tant, who had briefly left the floor, to ensure she wasn’t listed as absent.

Woodson noted that she had just debated against the bill, arguing that Floridians had not had “a fair opportunity to be heard.”

She noted that DeSantis first released the proposed map Monday on Fox News, after which it was rushed through the Special Session process with just a single hearing in the House, where public testimony was limited to 60 seconds or less and a motion to extend time was rejected on a party-line vote.

“More than half of the current House membership took office after the 2022 redistricting effort and has never participated in a congressional map cycle in this chamber,” she said. “A redistricting plan that will shape representation for millions of Floridians deserves more than a few hours of compressed review. The thinness of the process is itself a reason to vote no, and I did.”

Tant similarly cited her floor debate Wednesday as proof of her intent. She explained that her opposition to the measure (HB 1D) centered on an “internal inconsistency in how population data was used.”

“We were told the existing map needed to be replaced because the 2020 Census data underlying it was flawed. Yet the mapmaker has stated that he relied on that very same 2020 Census data to achieve population equality across the proposed districts,” Tant said in a statement.

“At the same time, he has acknowledged consulting newer state and national population estimates to consider growth since 2020. The result is a map that is mathematically equal on paper using data the proponents themselves describe as outdated, while we already know from newer estimates that some districts are over- or under-populated in reality. A redistricting plan cannot rest on data the Legislature simultaneously argues is too unreliable to use and reliable enough to rely on. For these reasons, I voted ‘no.’”

Democratic Reps. Mike Gottlieb of Davie, Yvonne Hinson of Gainesville and Mitch Rosenwald of Oakland Park, all of whom were initially registered as absent for the vote, later cast “no” votes after roll call.

No Democrats in either chamber voted for HB 1D, and in the Senate, four GOP lawmakers — Sens. Jennifer Bradley of Fleming Island, Alexis Calatayud and Ileana Garcia of Miami, and Erin Grall of Fort Pierce — opposed the measure too.

Following the vote changes, the bill passed in the House 81-33. It passed in the Senate 21-17.