The Indiana Common Meeting is effectively on its option to adopting new state legislative and U.S. congressional district maps. In doing so, it can reinforce the Republican Occasion’s dominance in state politics for an additional 10 years.
There’s no dispute that Indiana is a solidly purple state. However it’s nowhere near being as deep purple as make-up of the Legislature makes it appear. That’s due to the GOP’s non secular adherence to excessive gerrymandering, a course of by which the occasion in energy attracts legislative boundaries in order to offer itself a larger electoral benefit.
THE PRACTICE HAS been round endlessly and has been utilized by each events. However laptop know-how has turned it right into a science greater than an artwork. And the fastidiously crafted maps of 2011 produced sustained GOP supermajorities which have rendered the Democratic Occasion irrelevant within the formulation of public coverage and produced extra excessive legal guidelines than may in any other case go in a balanced and consultant Legislature.
One can not deny that Hoosier Democrats did a lot to undermine their very own possibilities by means of the years. Nonetheless, an evaluation of voting outcomes reveals that Republicans don’t even have the electoral assist statewide that their numbers within the Legislature would point out. The GOP sometimes wins 56% of statewide votes, a wholesome margin. However the GOP holds virtually 70% of legislative places of work. Credit score the gerrymandered maps for that.
That is one other redistricting yr, and the Republicans have crafted new maps that do nothing to encourage extra competitors. They haven’t finished a lot to extend their energy. They don’t need to.
IN MAPPING CONGRESSIONAL districts, the GOP did make changes to strengthen the only Republican member of Congress who was in a aggressive district. First-term Congresswoman Victoria Spartz received an in depth election for an open fifth District seat in 2020. The brand new congressional map shifts her district away from Democratic-leaning voters and towards safer Republican areas.
The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the decennial Census depend. That resulted within the current mad sprint to get the maps drawn and accepted by the Legislature prematurely of the 2022 midterm elections. It additionally made the mapping course of much less clear than it must be. Hoosiers have had little to no probability to assessment the maps or have an effect on a last final result.
Indiana regulation dictates that the political occasion in energy throughout the Census yr attracts the district maps. With the gerrymandering weapon wielded at full drive, the system is sweet for the politicians however unhealthy for democracy. A extra public-spirited strategy to redistricting can be for an impartial, nonpartisan fee to craft balanced maps primarily based on the outcomes of current elections. The Republicans would undoubtedly keep management the Statehouse, however their margin can be dictated by the need of the voters and never by artistic map-making designed to dilute the affect of their rival occasion.
Politicians can’t be depended upon to alter and enhance this technique on their very own. They’ve had their possibilities. It’s clear they don’t seem to be .
Hoosier voters are saddled with the end result, and it’ll seemingly stay that method till they make their case on the voting sales space. In the meantime, they get the legislative department they deserve.
Tribune-Star, Terre Haute
