GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) - Florida’s First District Court of Appeal is siding with Alachua County in the legal fight over single-member versus at-large county commission districts.

The panel announced on Wednesday that a lower court’s ruling that the ballot language used last November is unlawful was wrong.

In 2024, 70 percent of voters approved a referendum to return Alachua County Commission races to at-large districts, meaning everyone in the county votes for all five commissioners.

The referendum came just two years after another ballot measure passed, shifting the commission to single-member districts, where voters cast ballots for only the commission seat representing the district they live.

The lower court ruled that the ballot language in 2024 was unlawful because it wasn’t w

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