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Editorial: Redrawing districts

The Evansville Courier and Press
March 9, 2010

An effort to convince state lawmakers to create a credible plan for the way Indiana designs legislative and congressional districts is likely dead for this session.

Legislators, already meeting later than planned, have been working against time on a few critical issues, among them unemployment insurance taxes paid by businesses. Apparently, some House Democrats do not regard redistricting as critical. At one point during the session, House Speaker Pat Bauer, D-South Bend, who does have the power to place redistricting on the active agenda, referred to it as a "distraction."

He is patently wrong.

Redistricting determines the boundaries of legislative and congressional districts for a 10-year period. Unfortunately in Indiana, the only requirement for districts, now drawn by majorities in the legislature, is that the area of a district be contiguous. Of course, that allows the creation of such monstrosities as the 8th congressional district which is contiguous, but which runs all the way from Posey County in the south to Warren County in the far north. These two counties have almost nothing in common, and yet they share a congressional district all because Indiana permits gerrymandering.

Read the full editorial.