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This might not be an election year, but elections continue to be foremost in the minds of Hoosier politicians. More specifically – elections in the wake of impending redistricting. The early attention is welcome, provided it ensures a thorough and public discussion and not political maneuvering to protect incumbents or gain political advantage.
“No district should be drawn with the goal of improperly favoring any person or political party,” writes Senate President Pro Tem David Long, in a commentary published on the following page. That should be the first and last word in redistricting, but putting that into practice will be a challenge.
Indiana’s congressional and state legislative districts will be redrawn in 2011, based on census data collected next year and provided to the state early in 2011. Secretary of State Todd Rokita opened the debate this week with an address to an Indianapolis Rotary Club in which he proposed making it a felony to consider politics in drawing maps. He criticized the state’s current configurations, which have produced both congressional and legislative districts that leave many voters confused and most electoral contests non-competitive.
Indiana’s 6th Congressional District, for example, stretches from the southern part of Allen County along the state’s eastern border, to just north of Lawrenceburg on the Ohio River. GOP Rep. Mike Pence has constituents in Fort Wayne, Muncie, Anderson, Columbus and the Cincinnati suburbs.
Legislative districts are as poorly configured. House District 86, represented by Democratic Rep. Ed Delaney, ties in constituents from Indianapolis’ near-north side and Carmel in affluent Hamilton County.
Gerrymandered and illogical districts are just part of the problem. More troubling is the voter disillusionment created by non-competitive races. Indiana Senate districts are drawn to ensure there will never be a Democratic majority. The GOP holds a 33-17 majority.
The House is more evenly balanced, with Democrats holding a four-seat advantage. But only a handful of the House districts are in play every two years. Republicans are reportedly targeting 30 seats in a bid to regain the majority in 2010.
Redistricting is a balancing act. Mapmakers must assign comparable numbers of voters to each district while maintaining some sort of geographic sense. County lines make for an obvious electoral boundary, but Indiana counties vary in population from 880,000-plus to less than 5,800. Minority representation is another important consideration.
The state constitution gives the General Assembly authority to establish electoral districts, with approval of the governor. Some states have established non-partisan commissions to draw maps, with final approval granted by lawmakers. Rokita has expressed skepticism of that approach, noting that there would be no guarantee the commission would be free of political influence.
His call for criminal penalties for using political data to draw maps – even to determine where an incumbent lives – goes too far. But the secretary of state, as Indiana’s chief elections officer, is right to raise the redistricting topic while the 2011 House majority is still up in the air.
“Before either side knows who’s going to win, let’s agree on the principles,” Rokita said. “Whatever side wins, it can be used as a way to hedge a bet or get insurance to make sure you’re not drawn out of the process if you happen to be the losing party.”
