ARTICLE IX.

Census and Apportionment of Representation.

Section 1. The General Assembly shall, in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, and every tenth year thereafter, cause an enumeration to be made of all the inhabitants of the State, and to the whole number of free white inhabitants shall be added three-fifths of the number of slaves, and they shall then proceed to apportion the representation equally among the different counties, according to such enumeration, giving, however, one representative to every county, and increasing the number of representatives on a uniform ratio of population, according to the foregoing basis, and which ratio shall not be changed until a new census shall have been taken.

Section 2. The General Assembly shall also, after every such enumeration, proceed to fix by law the number of Senators which shall constitute the Senate of the State of Florida, and which shall never be less than one-fourth, nor more than one-half of the whole number of the House of Representatives; and they shall lay off the State into the same number of senatorial districts, as nearly equal in the number of inhabitants as may be, according to the ratio of representation established in the preceding section, each of which districts shall be entitled to one Senator.

Section 3. When any senatorial district shall be composed of two or more counties, the counties of which such district consists shall not be entirely separated by any county belonging to another district, and no county shall be divided in forming a district.

Section 4. No county now organized shall be divided into new counties, so as to reduce the inhabitants of either below the ratio of representation.

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