The process starts Sept. 14, with the House Republicans’ unveiling of the Congressional and Indiana House district map drafts online. The proposed Senate district maps will post online Sept. 21.
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.
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.
State lawmakers will convene at the Statehouse on Wednesday for a final hearing before drawing the new district maps.
The usual gerrymandering is expected this year as the Legislature embarks on the once-a-decade process of redistricting, though public scrutiny is expected to be much greater than in previous years.
The hearings will be the first public steps by the Republican-dominated Legislature on the once-a-decade redrawing of election maps based on population shifts.
The U.S. Census Bureau says data needed for Indiana lawmakers to redraw the state’s legislative and congressional districts will be ready Aug. 16, and legislative leaders are planning to hold hearings across the state that month to receive public input on the once-a-decade task.
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.
State lawmakers face the once-a-decade task of drawing new districts for congressional seats, along with the 100 Indiana House and 50 state Senate districts, based on population shifts.
The coalition of some 25 groups, including Common Cause Indiana, the NAACP and the League of Women Voters, said they hoped public pressure would force Republicans not to draw new voting districts behind closed doors.
Redistricting reform advocates are taking a slightly different approach at the Republican-controlled Indiana Legislature this year, as they make more transparency the priority ahead of lines being redrawn in 2021.
Senate Bill 105, authored by Elections Chair Greg Walker, R-Columbus, would establish a series of standards lawmakers would use to redraw district lines following population reapportionment, which occurs each decade after the completion of the U.S. Census.
In cases involving districts in Wisconsin and Maryland, the U.S. Supreme Court sidestepped ruling on whether electoral maps can give an unfair advantage to a political party.
The bill would set criteria for redrawing electoral districts, but the measure falls far short of a comprehensive redistricting overhaul that good government groups have sought for years.
Despite strong support from influential Republicans and fired-up grassroots activists, redistricting reform legislation faces several significant hurdles in the short session.
An effort to change who is responsible for drawing Indiana's election maps is unlikely to gain approval this year after a legislative panel declined to take a vote on the issue.
A bill that will establish a study committee to consider how to handle redistricting and evaluate the benefits and problems with changing the state’s mapping methods passed the Indiana Senate on Wednesday.
House Bill 1032 would create a redistricting commission to hold hearings, take public comment and recommend plans to redraw legislative and congressional districts. But leaders plan to send the issue to a study committee first.
The Indiana Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled in favor of Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard in a dispute between the mayor and Democratic members of the City-County Council who challenged a redistricting plan passed in late 2011.
Indiana Democrats don't expect their election prospects to improve soon after Republicans drew election maps that led to the GOP picking up two U.S. congressional seats in 2012.
