Hoosiers are being invited to try their skills at drawing legislative and congressional maps as part of the ongoing push by civic organizations in Indiana to have more public involvement in the redistricting process.
The fight over redrawing political maps is just ramping up in state legislatures and nonpartisan commissions around the country. But both Republicans and Democrats already are planning for major showdowns in the courts.
The once-a-decade battle over redistricting is set to be a showdown over the suburbs, as new census data released Thursday showed rapid growth around the some of the nation’s largest cities and shrinking population in many rural counties.
More than half of Indiana’s counties lost population during the last decade, according to U.S. Census figures released Thursday showing the state’s growth around Indianapolis and its other largest cities.
Lawmakers heard more than two hours of testimony Wednesday at the Indiana Statehouse from citizens who spent most of their time asking for a fair redistricting process.
Indiana lawmakers are set to take on a final hearing at the Statehouse on Wednesday following a weekend of mostly partisan input from hundreds who attended redistricting listening tours across the state.
As House Republicans and Democrats continue to tussle over a consultant the GOP has hired to help with the redistricting process, the chair of the Indiana Senate Committee on Elections said he sees no reason for the consultant’s contract not to be made public.
In years past, the Indiana Legislature has been able to shroud the redistricting process with budget debates and other pending issues. But due to a pandemic-related delay in the census data needed to redraw the maps this year, lawmakers are expected to return to the Statehouse in September to deal exclusively with redistricting. Several voter groups are promising to closely monitor the process, even though most of the wheeling and dealing could still occur behind closed doors amid sporadic public hearings.
The Indiana General Assembly will be hosting a series of meetings around the state in August to get public input on the upcoming redistricting process prior to the congressional and state legislative maps being redrawn.
Greater access to the ballot, fair voting systems and inclusion in the process does not mean allegiance to a particular party — it should be a universal concept that brings about reasoned, well-informed participation in a system that affords citizens the opportunity to express policy and political preferences.
A coalition of voting rights organizations are criticizing the outline Republican leaders provided on the process they intended to follow for redrawing Indiana’s legislative and congressional maps, claiming Hoosiers are being left in the dark on redistricting.
Voting rights activists are calling on Indiana legislative leaders to give the public a month for reviewing proposed new congressional and state election district maps before they are finalized.
Legislative and congressional districts have been drawn across Indiana so that slivers of urban areas are attached to large swaths of rural land. As a result, voters are not given true representation because their elected officials are representing segments of different communities of interest rather than a segment with common interests.
Indiana’s top elections official has acknowledged violating state political fundraising rules with the launch of her 2022 election campaign.
Indiana’s population grew about 5% during the past decade to nearly 6.8 million residents and the state held onto its nine U.S. House seats, the U.S. Census Bureau announced Monday in the first release of data from the 2020 national headcount.
The numbers used for deciding how many congressional seats each state gets can’t be released before Monday, according to an agreement that settles litigation between the U.S. Census Bureau and a coalition of local governments and civil rights groups.
Indiana lawmakers won’t be done for the year when their regular legislative session ends later this month. Legislative leaders are laying the groundwork for a return by all 150 lawmakers to Indianapolis months from now to approve new congressional and General Assembly districts based on data from last year’s census.
As Indiana lawmakers prepare for the second half of the session, several key issues are awaiting further review.
A delay in the completion of data from last year’s census has Indiana legislative leaders anticipating a special session over the summer to draw new maps for congressional and General Assembly districts.
Battered by criticism that the 2020 census was dangerously politicized by the Trump administration, the U.S. Census Bureau under a new Biden administration has the tall task of restoring confidence in the numbers that will be used to determine funding and political power.