WELCOME TO MONROE COUNTY: Where citizens will be in charge of redistricting
Oct. 25, 2021 Continuing our coverage of this year’s redistricting process, the following report was written by veteran Bloomington journalist Steve Hinnefeld for The Indiana Citizen. Bloomington, Ind. -- Earlier this month, Indiana’s Republican legislative supermajority wrapped up a decennial redistricting process that flat-out rejected the idea of having a nonpartisan, independent commission redraw the state’s congressional and legislative district maps. But 55 miles to the south, in one of Indiana’s few Democratic strongholds, officials in Monroe County and Bloomington instead have embraced the idea. The board of county commissioners and city council, both controlled by Democrats, will rely on separate, political…
REDISTRICTING, ROUND 2: At the local level, another chance for openness and fair maps
October 21, 2021 The introduction, passage and enactment of new congressional and state legislative district maps by the 148 state legislators in attendance and the Governor between Sept. 14 and Oct. 4 certainly provided the most visible evidence of the civic impact of the 2020 census. But that census also is causing hundreds of Hoosier officeholders – and two independent commissions -- to begin redrawing boundaries of thousands of political units from precincts to school board, county council and commission and city council districts. The redistricting of local governments and school boards rarely attracts the public attention given state-level map-drawing,…
From Public News Service: Groups say federal legislation is needed to open up Indiana’s redistricting process
The following column was first published by the Public News Service, and is republished according to the PNS republishing guidelines. INDIANAPOLIS -- Gov. Eric Holcomb signed new voting district maps for the General Assembly into law this week, but good-government groups say not only do the maps appear to be gerrymandered, but the process lacked transparency and public input. Block-by-block census data needed to draw maps for the next decade of elections is supposed to come out in April, but it was delayed until August because of the pandemic. Julia Vaughn, policy director for Common Cause Indiana, said the Legislature drew and…
John Krull commentary: The mess made by gerrymandering
Not long after Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb signed Indiana’s new and heavily gerrymandered redistricting bill into law, he received a reminder of why such measures aren’t such a good idea. A Marion County judge upheld a law passed by the Indiana General Assembly that challenges the governor’s authority to use emergency powers. The legislature adopted the measure, which allows lawmakers to call themselves into session, over Holcomb’s veto. Holcomb argued that the state constitution says the governor is supposed to call the legislature into session—which it does. The judge, though, said that constitutional provision is the exception rather than the…
A WHIMPER, NOT A BANG: Redistricting session comes to a subdued end with passage of Republican-drawn maps; Holcomb signs bill into law
The Indiana Statehouse, Friday, October 1, 2021. UPDATE: Gov. Eric Holcomb (above) on Monday signed into law House Bill 1581, the Republican-drawn redistricting of the state's congressional and legislative district lines for the next decade. "Today I signed HB 1581, completing this once-in-a-decade constitutionally required process," Holcomb said in a statement released by his office. "I want to thank both the House and Senate for faithfully following through in an orderly and transparent way. "A special thanks to every Hoosier who participated in the process by sharing their local perspective and input." With the signing of the legislation, county governments,…
With further amendments voted down, GOP-drawn maps advance to a final vote on Friday
After nearly two weeks of fine-tuning on their redistricting maps -- generally small changes attributed to input from the public and even their Democratic counterparts -- Indiana Senate Republicans put an end to the tinkering on Thursday and set the stage for a final vote on Friday. In repeated votes along party lines reinforced by its 39-11 advantage, the Republican supermajority rejected nine attempts from Democrats to further amend House Bill 1581, which would redraw the state's congressional and legislative districts based upon 2020 census legislation released in August. The second-reading advancement of the legislation -- seen as likely to…