TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida’s local elections chiefs should hold onto their old congressional district maps, a state official said, even as they begin the time-consuming task of adopting new districts created by Gov. Ron DeSantis for the 2026 midterm elections.

The advisory came down last Monday amid a flurry of legal challenges to the new map that DeSantis signed into law earlier that day, and seems to indicate at least some concern that those challenges may stall the aggressive, breakneck effort to boost Republican representation.

DeSantis’ new statewide map — which could give Florida four more GOP representatives in the U.S. House — impacts 21 of the state’s 28 congressional districts, especially those in Central Florida, Tampa Bay and South Florida. The governor convened a special session of the Legislature to approve the new map, months after President Donald Trump asked Republican-led states to redraw districts to help their party hold onto power.

Within hours of the bill’s signing, civil rights groups filed three lawsuits on behalf of Florida voters contesting it as an illegal gerrymander that violates the state’s Fair District laws. Those laws, approved by voters in 2010, ban political gerrymandering and diluting minority voting power in drawing new maps.

The instruction to hang onto the old maps came in a May 4 email that also provided information on how local elections supervisors could obtain data to redraw their local maps to mesh with the new state one. The email did not cite the lawsuits but seemed to suggest there was at least a chance that legal challenges could prevent the new map from being used for this year’s mid-term elections whose primaries are scheduled for Aug. 18.

“You should also preserve the previous congressional map that was in place for the 2022 and 2024 elections … in case the need to implement it becomes necessary,” wrote Ashley Davis, general counsel for the Department of State General, in an email instructing election officials to go to the state economic and demographics research website for data to help them redraw their maps.

The new congressional map — drawn up by the governor’s staff and some outside counsel in secret — gives Florida Republicans a potential 24 to four majority over Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives. The GOP currently has a 20-to-eight majority based on the map the Legislature approved in 2022.

DeSantis had initially suggested a less controversial offered a benign “]rationale for his move, saying the unusual mid-decade redistricting was needed to make up for the state’s rapid growth since the 2022 map was adopted. But once it became law, DeSantis and Republican Party officials took a victory lap on social media boasting they had done what President Trump had asked of them and admitting that political performance was considered.

The current makeup of the U.S. House gives Republicans a 217-212 edge over Democrats.

Election supervisors in the regions with newly drawn districts have a big task ahead: They must redraw local maps and then notify voters if they are in new congressional districts and voting in new precincts.

“They’ll have to overlay the new data over their existing district maps and alter the street addresses to correspond to the new data,” said Mark Earley, supervisor of elections for Leon County and former president of the Florida Supervisors of Elections, Inc. “It’s a long, tedious process that is going to require a lot of double checking to make sure they get it right.”

All that extra work could cost counties money they hadn’t planned to spend. And there is no help coming from the Legislature.

“Local supervisors will incur the cost of data-processing and labor to change voter records to reflect new districts if they are impacted by this proposed map,” an analysis prepared by legislative staff said. “As precincts are aligned to new districts, postage and printing will be required to provide each active voter whose precinct has changed with mail notification. Temporary staffing may be hired to assist with mapping, data verification, and voter inquiries.”

Orange and Osceola Counties were among those most affected by the redistricting, with thousands of residents pushed into new Republican-dominated districts. Orange County’s population shifts mainly affect congressional districts 8, 9 and 10 with almost all of Orlando squeezed into the sole remaining Democrat-dominated seat in Central Florida, District 10.

Osceola County, which was entirely in Congressional District 9 prior to redistricting, was one of the most impacted, with an estimated 35,000 voters reassigned to Congressional District 18, Osceola County Supervisor of Elections Mary Jane Arrington said. Those shifting boundaries could mean new precinct reassignments, too, she said.

“It is our goal to try and keep as many voters as possible voting in the same location, but some voters will be reassigned to new locations,” Arrington said. “ We hope this does not overload any location because polling locations are hard to find, especially in this area.”

She said she assumed the instruction to keep the old maps was due to the pending litigation.

Once her staff updates their database, they will know exactly how many Osceola voters to move. Those voters will get notified by mail at a cost of 85 cents each. And if they have a polling location change, an additional notification will have to be mailed out.

Ballots have to be sent out by July 4, or 45 days before the next election, which is the August primary.

“My biggest concern is the timeline to get the ballots designed and printed and ready to be mailed,” Arrington said.

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