(NETWORK INDIANA) Supporters of redistricting reform say they’ll keep pushing for changes despite a U-S Supreme Court ruling on gerrymandering.
Legislative maps can be thrown out if they’re drawn to minimize the influence of minority voters. But a 5-4 court ruled it’s not the courts’ business to assess whether a map is slanted against a political party.
Common Cause of Indiana policy director Julia Vaughn says she’s disappointed by the ruling, but says the group will continue lobbying for an independent commission to draw legislative maps. House Minority Leader Phil GiaQuinta (D-Fort Wayne) and Senate Minority Leader Tim Lanane (D-Anderson) both say the ruling means legislators can’t use the possibility of court intervention as an excuse for inaction, and say they’ll seek a commission next year.
Five bills this session would have created a redistricting commission. None got a hearing. The Senate did pass a bill requiring legislative maps to follow geographic boundaries as much as possible, but the proposal died in the House.
Vaughn with Common Cause says at the very least, legislators should make the data they use to draw the maps publicly available on the Internet. At the last redistricting in 2011, she complains legislators made that information available at just three locations, on Indiana University campuses in Bloomington, Indy and South Bend.
And Vaughn isn’t ruling out another court fight, this time in state court. That wouldn’t affect congressional maps but could affect state legislative districts.
