State representative speaks about redistricting process

Rep. Charles McBurney

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Two days before state lawmakers draw new congressional district maps, News4Jax spoke with one local lawmaker who will help lead the effort Tuesday night.

Republican state Rep. Charles McBurney was one of the speakers at Tuesday night's Jacksonville Jaycees candidate forum at Suite in the St. Johns Town Center.

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Candidates for the state House, school board, and soil and water conservation board introduced themselves to young professionals Tuesday night, with just a few weeks until the Florida primary.

McBurney is vice chair of the House committee on redistricting and spoke to News4Jax about the upcoming process of re-drawing district maps.

"Thursday will be the opening session. That afternoon the house and the senate redistricting committees are scheduled to meet jointly. They will be advised by staff as to the legal issues and legal implications of the redistricting process," said McBurney.

McBurney said the House and the Senate will then meet separately to go over the district maps.

"The court has ordered maps and we are going to comply with the maps, one thing that I don't think that we want to do, as much as we possibly can, is disrupt the elections," said McBurney.

McBurney told News4Jax that thousands of absentee ballots have already gone out for this year's election.

"You don't want to create a bigger problem, so as much as we can, we will try to keep those elections as much as we can. But it's all premature because right now, the first thing we have to do is do the maps," said McBurney.

The legislature has to come up with a new map by Aug 15.