To the editor:
The winning Brown County student essays from Grades 7-12 answered the prompt: “Do current districts and the redistricting process in Indiana reflect democratic principles? Why or why not?”
These students knocked it out of the park. They talked about why Indiana’s current redistricting process does not protect the democratic principle of EQUAL VOTES for every person. When redistricting is controlled by legislators whose conflict of interest is prone to draw maps in their favor, rather than equal voter representation, democratic principles may be lost.
But some students misunderstood the prompt. They interpreted democratic (with a small “d”) as meaning Democratic (with a capital “D”), meaning principles of the Democratic Party. That misunderstanding is the stuff of which misinformation is made. We need to work against misinformation.
Brown County’s Congressional District 9 has changed over the last two redistricting cycles. We don’t know why the district changed after the 2010 Census stretching up to include urban suburbs of Indianapolis instead of letting us vote with counties more similar to Brown County.
Voters should have a say in how our districts are formed. Districts should be competitive, not partisan and safe for incumbents. Political boundaries of towns, cities and counties should be protected. Communities with similar interests should be able to vote together, not be broken apart.
Every vote should be equal. When Indiana is about 60 percent Republican and 40 percent Democratic, how is it that nearly 75 percent of the state Legislature is Republican? Gerrymandered districts give unequal power to some voters over others. A recent study found Indiana to have one of the most gerrymandered voting maps in the nation: https://www.women4changeindiana.org/redistricting.
You can take action. Ask Hoosier state Legislators to:
Have public hearings and give us a voice in new voting districts after the maps are drawn, before they are adopted.
Make criteria for new districts transparent so we know why changes were made.
Do not gerrymander districts to favor a political party or an incumbent. This destroys the democratic principle of equal votes.
Both parties are guilty of gerrymandering when they are in power. It is wrong regardless of who does it. If you want to know more about how gerrymandering is done, watch this 7-and-a-half-minute video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpamjJtXqFI.
Who should you contact to ask for fair maps, transparency and public input in redistricting? Ideally, all the following:
Chairperson, Elections & Apportionment Committee: Rep. Timothy Wesco (317) 232-9753 or [email protected]
Chairperson, Senate Elections Committee: Sen. Jon Ford (317) 232-9517 or [email protected]
President Pro Tempore of the Indiana Senate: Sen. Rodric Bray (800) 382-9467 or [email protected]
Speaker of the Indiana House of Representatives: Rep. Todd Huston (800) 382-9841 or [email protected]
Governor Eric Holcomb (317) 232-4567 or [email protected]
And representing Brown County:
Rep. Chris May (317) 232-9981 or [email protected]
Sen. Eric Koch (317) 232-9400 or [email protected]
Together, we can make a difference.
Please join LWVBC Tuesday, Aug. 24 at 6 p.m. at the Brown County Public Library downstairs for a meeting on redistricting. Learn about the redistricting process and what you can do to work for fair voting maps. For more information, contact [email protected].
League of Women Voters Brown County, Pam Raider, vice president
