The bill to redistrict Indiana’s US house map was approved late last week by the state House of Representatives and discussed by the state Senate on Monday.
After months of political pressure, the Indiana Statehouse could be poised to pass maps that dilute and eliminate the only two democrat-held districts to gain two more republican seats in the US House.
University of Southern Indiana (USI) Political Science Professor Matt Hanka said this new map doesn’t reflect “natural constituencies.”
“Going from the Ohio River all the way up to 38th Street in Indianapolis, those aren't natural constituencies,” Hanka said. “They're different because they're in different parts of the state, they're in different areas, and there's different needs in those areas, and so, so that's a problem in general.”
Again, the current map was passed in 2021 based on the 2020 Census. It only has two democratic seats — this map would eliminate them. The Indiana Senate had resisted redistricting — many speaking out against it such as Sen. Vaneta Becker (R-Dist 50) who voted three times against it.
Hanka said gerrymandering is a bad practice for either side — republican or democrat. Such maps also have a way of discouraging voter turnout — something that’s already a problem in Indiana.
WNIN’s Tim Jagielo spoke with Mike Wolf of the Mike Downs center for Indiana politics at Purdue University — Fort Wayne about the potential aim of the new map — hear the interview, edited for time, below.
Likely the most dramatic change in the proposed map is in Marion County, the home of Indianapolis.
It would be broken up, absorbed into four other districts.
Mike Wolf of the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics at Purdue University, Fort Wayne, questions whether this new Indiana map can accurately represent communities.
With redistricting that follows the census, the goal overall is creating districts that are compact, generally follow municipal boundaries and keep communities of interest in mind.
He said these practices have historically been considered “good governance” — but don’t exist in this new map.
“The notion of trying to produce the best representation for the US, House of Representatives for people in Indiana really are a conflict here, and it's not only in Indiana. We've seen this, obviously in Texas and California.”
The Supreme Court will not block the use of the new maps in Texas, so Wolf is not sure there will be a legal challenge in Indiana.
“There might be case brought based on this dilution of minorities and so that that could be, but again, the court decisions recently, or at least the arguments that have been made, it's not entirely clear where the court stands as far as where the Voting Rights Act fits in with that. So whether or not that would be successful is really up in the air.”
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