By SHARI FRANK and SONIA (SUNNY) LEERKAMP, guest columnists
Redistricting happens every 10 years after the census and it’s happening now.
The Indiana General Assembly released new voting maps for U.S. Congress, Indiana House districts and Indiana Senate districts with lots of big changes.
Indiana legislators say the new Indiana district maps meet all legal criteria, however, the legal criteria is minimal. Requirements include adjusting districts to have near equal population, compactness and adherence to the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits racial gerrymandering.
But what other criteria was used to draw the new districts? Legislators held public hearings, but did they use public input?
The Indiana House of Representatives held hearings allowing public input on what the maps should look like. Hoosiers in testimony after testimony asked legislators to draw maps that do not gerrymander, or that do not group voters to give more power to one party over another. Hoosiers said clearly they want competitive maps that represent Indiana’s political make-up, transparency and maps avoiding splitting school districts, counties and other communities of interest.
Currently, no law prohibits partisan gerrymandering. But Hoosiers want it to end. Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, unaffiliated, young and old asked for fair representation and an end to partisan gerrymandering.
Analysis of Indiana’s new U.S. Congressional districts by Five Thirty Eight, a data-driven journalism website, shows the new proposed maps were drawn to advantage one party over the other rather than provide fair representation that reflects the political make-up of the state.
Indiana voters tend to be about 60 percent Republican and 40 percent Democrat yet the Congressional districts are about 78 percent Republican and 22 percent Democratic, resulting in two Democratic Congressional districts and seven Republican Congressional districts.
The Indiana legislators’ own study committee years ago recommended that a citizen redistricting commission be used for established for redistricting. This didn’t happen.
Since legislators failed to take the advice of their own study committee, the coalition All In For Democracy developed a citizen redistricting commission to serve as a model: The Indiana Citizens Redistricting Commission (ICRC). ICRC consists of nine members selected from hundreds of applicants: Three Republican, three Democrat and three of no party affiliation. This multi-partisan approach is designed to remove the inherent conflict of interest partisan legislators have to preserve power when drawing new districts.
ICRC held 10 virtual public hearings early this year and reported their findings to the Indiana legislature, with specific criteria Hoosiers requested for drawing fair maps.
ICRC also held a public mapping contest, awarding prizes for the best maps in each category: U.S. Congressional (Nine districts for Indiana); Indiana State Senate (50 districts); and the State House of Representatives (100 districts).
Over 60 map contest entries were submitted.
Map testimony
On Sept. 16, the ICRC presented its winning map for the Indiana House of Representatives at the Indiana State House of Representatives public hearing. ICRC members testified about the map including chair of the commission Sonia Leerkamp.
Members explained that testimony from ICRC public hearings produced the foundation for a fair, transparent mapping process. Specific issues were also highlighted from public testimony including calls for representation in the House and Senate to be responsive to voter priorities, as opposed to representation that seems more answerable to legislators’ party affiliation.
Voters also expressed in the ICRC public hearings how frustrated they were with the lack of competitiveness in political races, stating this leads to voter apathy. Indiana consistently has one of the lowest voter turnout rates in the U.S. Individuals also shared concerns that maps split communities of interest, diluting their power to vote for local goals to promote economic progress.
ICRC members testified about the mapping competition process and the metrics used to evaluate the maps that were submitted to the commission. All of the winning maps submitted by the ICRC went through an “efficiency gap” analysis to see which maps most effectively represented the population. The winning maps had better percentages than any of those submitted by the General Assembly.
Leerkamp’s testimony centered upon how the legislators as individuals should approach their analysis of redistricting maps and that they should remain focused on their commitment to public service and to all of their constituents, not party loyalty. She said the process should not be rushed and the ICRC maps should be considered along with giving more time for the public to evaluate the maps and for adjustments.
This is the criteria ICRC used to evaluate maps:
Fair representation: One of the goals for the ICRC mapping competition was to increase fair representation. Greg Knott of Bloomington submitted the winning U.S. Congressional map for Indiana. Mr. Knott said his goal was a Congressional map that would give the two major political parties a share of seats that is proportional to their statewide vote share. Mr. Knott’s winning map would likely produce six Republican districts and three Democrat districts. Four of the nine districts are competitive enough that they could swing between each party depending on future election trends. (The efficiency gap for this map was 7.6 percent, whereas the efficiency gap for the Assembly’s map was 14.4 percent.) The higher the efficiency gap, the more it favors one party over the other.
Electoral competition: Adam Stant of Indianapolis submitted the winning Senate map. In his statement of intent, Mr. Stant noted that his map was drawn to maximize electoral competition. Using the 2016 Governor’s race as his barometer, Mr. Stant’s map produces an equal number of seats for Republicans and Democrats. He also sought to avoid dividing counties, cities and townships. (The efficiency gap for this map was 1.6%. The EG for the legislature’s map was not available at this time.)
One Person One Vote and Preserve Communities of Interest: The ICRC’s winning House map was created by Fort Wayne’s Jorge Fernandez, a respected educator. In the statement of intent submitted by Mr. Fernandez, he noted that his first mapping goal was to respect the principal of one person, one vote, while preserving communities of interest. (The efficiency gap for the ICRC map was 6.4% and for the state’s map was 6.9%.)
Contact legislators
Legislators still have time to incorporate public input.
There undoubtedly will be criticism of the ICRC citizen drawn maps. No map will please everyone. This was the first effort at an independent commission within Indiana. ICRC used research based best practices shown to work in other states. This includes an open, transparent process and incorporating public input to develop redistricting criteria.
The result is ICRC maps more closely reflect the proportionality of Indiana voters, offer more competitiveness and keep communities of interest together. The maps were not designed to achieve a particular political objective and they are foundational to the preservation of our democracy.
The legislature needs to enable the creation of an advisory independent commission to oversee future redistricting in Indiana. It’s too late this round, but not too late to use public feedback.
Hoosiers deserve a redistricting process that puts the public interest first. Call or email legislators so they know you would like fair maps:
Senator Eric Koch: 800-382-9467 or 317-232-9400, [email protected]
Representative Chris May: 317-232-9981, [email protected]
Senator Rodric Bray: 317-232-9400, [email protected]
Representative Todd Huston: 317-232-9677, [email protected]
Representative Timothy Wesco: 317-232-9753, [email protected]
Senator Jon Ford: 800-382-9467, [email protected]
Gov. Eric Holcomb: 317-232-4567, www.in.gov/gov/2752.htm then select “To contact the governor with questions or comments unrelated to the above, click here.”
The Senate Elections Committee had a public hearing Sept. 27. Contact legislators before final readings expected Sept. 30 and Oct 1. Details will be posted at iga.in.gov.
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For more information on Five Thirty Eight, a website that focuses on statistical analysis and data-based journalism, visit: www.projects.fivethirtyeight.com/redistricting-2022-maps/indiana/republican_proposal/
See the Indiana Citizens Redistricting Commission report here: www.allinfordemocracy.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Indiana-Citizens-Redistricting-Commission-Spring-2021-Report.pdf
Criteria and more about the mapping contest are available: www.allinfordemocracy.org/indiana-citizens-redistricting-commission/
Winning ICRC maps can be found here: www.portal.indiana-maps.org/
[sc:pullout-text-end]Shari Frank is the president of the League of Women Voters Brown County and Sonia (Sunny) Leerkamp is co-vice president LWVBC and chair of the Indiana Citizens Redistricting Commission. They both can be reached at [email protected]
