On October 12th, Judge Marcia Morales Howard issued a stay on the City of Jacksonville’s municipal lines, effectively meaning the maps cannot be used in the 2023 election cycle. 

The suit brought by the ACLU, NAACP, the Northside Coalition and others alleges that the city illegally, Intentionally, packed black voters into four districts solely based on race, a violation of the 14th amendment.  

The City of Jacksonville seemed surprised by the ruling, as numerous individuals, including City Council President Samuel Newbty, incoming City Council President Terrance Freeman and Redistricting Chair Aaron Bowman had previously made statements saying the lawsuit was frivolous. 

While it’s unclear if the city will appeal, for now they have until November 8th to submit new maps, if not plaintiffs will get a chance to submit maps.

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Hurricane Ian, now has officially over 100 storm-related deaths in Florida. Therefore, Ian has broken Hurricane Irma’s- post 1935 record for most fatalities in a Florida storm.

Of Irma’s 84 Florida deaths, 21 were in Broward County and 14 in Monroe. Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Orange each recorded over five deaths in the 2017 storm as well.

Thus far the death count from Ian includes 56 in Lee County, 24 and 7 in both Monroe and Sarasota. Volusia and Collier have both recorded 5 deaths. Hardee has four deaths recorded, Putnam and Manatee each with three, Hillsborough, Orange, Osceola, Polk and Hendry each with two and Lake, DeSoto and Martin each recorded one death.

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We will be back with a new Express Lane Sunday. Enjoy your weekend. It’s likely we do a Twitter space either Sunday or Monday, as we did last Sunday to discuss VBM numbers and the post-Ian Florida political landscape.