Organizers confront gerrymandering before 2020 census

“We were hoping we would have good news from the Supreme Court,” Asberry said, referencing the Supreme Court’s recent decision not to rule on political gerrymandering. “We didn’t get what we wanted out of the legislative process; we didn’t get what we wanted from the Supreme Court process but we can’t quit … It’s not over and we’ve got a plan for moving forward.”

Julia Vaughn, a policy director for Common Cause Indiana, described the goals of the group for the upcoming legislative session, which will be the last chance for legislators to change Indiana’s process before getting results from the 2020 census.

“Right now, the folks most interested in the outcomes of redistricting are the ones in charge, so it’s an obvious conflict of interest,” Vaughn said. “What we want to see is a process where any Hoosier with the time and inclination … can try their hand at drawing maps.”

Vaughn said that in her quarter century with Common Cause, she’d seen both parties use the redistricting process to their advantage and outlined specific policies the group would like the legislature to implement.

By making an accessible map-drawing website, Vaughn said any Hoosier would be able to create their own proposed map based on the same data available to elected officials, making a similar process used in 2001 and 2011 more widely available. Public hearings should only come after legislators had presented redistricting maps so the public could give their opinions.

“It was less than three weeks to pass (in 2011) and not a lot of Hoosiers had any say,” Vaughn said. “We want to give Hoosiers an opportunity to educate themselves, discuss and decide if these maps will be good for their communities.”

Doug and Susan Davis of Bloomington marched with homemade signs for one mile between Arsenal Park and Canterbury Park. Organizers said that despite both neighborhoods being part of South Broad Ripple, they’re split between different federal and state-level districts.

“When you’re retired, you have to do these sorts of things you couldn’t do when we were young and married with kids,” Susan Davis, a part of Reverse Citizens United of Monroe County, said. “Every 10 years, after the census, the Indiana legislature gets to change things. And they can be drawn in a way where it favors one party … we have to do better.”

Since the 2011 election, Davis said that Indiana had a Republican supermajority. According to her sign, Republicans made up 55 percent of the popular vote but held 68 percent of seats in 2018.

Rather than have legislators draw the maps, Davis said she wanted to see computer models to maintain fair elections.

“It’s not healthy for either party,” Davis said. “One party doesn’t have all of the answers. My dad always used to say, ‘It’s good to change back and forth.’ It keeps us from being extreme.”