TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Voting rights groups packed the Florida Capitol on Tuesday, warning that state leaders are rushing into an unprecedented mid-decade redistricting effort.

It comes just days before house lawmakers hold their first public meeting. At the Capitol, the message was loud.

“Voters should choose our elected officials, not the other way around,” Abdelilah Skhir, with the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, said.

Dozens of civil-rights and voting rights groups held what they’re calling a “We Draw the Lines” Day of Action, blasting state leaders for even considering new congressional maps just three years after the last redraw.

“That is not democracy — that is a power grab,” Genesis Robinson, with the group Equal Ground, said.

Speakers accused the governor and Legislature of bowing to national political pressure and violating Florida’s Fair Districts rules, which ban partisan gerrymandering.

“No politician and no party is entitled to a single seat,” Jonathan Weber, with the Southern Poverty Law Center, said. It is the people who are entitled to fair maps and equal representation.”

The rally comes ahead of Thursday’s first House Select Committee meeting on redistricting — a meeting Democrats say raises serious alarms.

“It’s cynical, it’s inappropriate, frankly, it’s illegal, and I’m just so sorry to see that our state is moving forward in this direction,” House Minority Leader Rep. Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa, said.

House Speaker Danny Perez, R-Miami-Dade, formed the committee in August, saying in a memo lawmakers need legal clarity after the Black Voters Matter state Supreme Court ruling raised “important and distinct questions about the applicability and interpretation of certain provisions of the so-called ‘Fair Districts’ provisions of the Florida Constitution.”

But Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis seems to be offering his own timeline, suggesting in an interview with the Floridian that a special session is needed in Spring after the U.S. Supreme Court determines the fate of the Voting Rights Act.

“The issue is that there is a Supreme Court decision that we are waiting on the argument in October about Section 2 of the VRA impacts Florida’s maps, so we’re going to do it next Spring,” DeSantis said.

But many in DeSantis’ own party want to move faster.

Multiple House Republicans tell us it’s “inefficient” to wait until spring — that lawmakers are already in Tallahassee and ready to act.

One member went further, calling the governor’s timeline political posturing.

The Senate, meanwhile, is staying pretty quiet about the idea.

Staff said in a statement the President Ben Albritton and Governor had spoken, but that’s about it.

“The Governor reiterated to the President what he has stated publicly — that the timeline for addressing redistricting should be next Spring,” the statement reads. “We have always assumed that means after the regular session.”

The redistricting fight is still in its earliest stages — with key decisions now split between the Governor, House, and Senate.

Thursday’s committee meeting will offer the first public look at how quickly lawmakers intend to move.

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