Anyone who wants to participate in the virtual redistricting meeting for the 9th District can go to https://bit.ly/3uZvpX5 to register. A link to access the meeting will be sent to them. The event is 7-9 p.m. Wednesday.

WHO THEY ARE

The nine members of the Indiana Citizens Redistricting Commission were selected by the All IN for Democracy coalition. Nearly 300 people across Indiana applied.

Three of the members are Republicans:

  • Clara Glaspie of Indianapolis, a longtime GOP activist who was the first Black woman to participate in the Richard G. Lugar Excellence for Women Leadership series.
  • Leigh Morris of LaPorte, a former mayor and retired as the CEO of the community hospital in LaPorte.
  • Marilyn Moran-Townsend of Fort Wayne, CEO of CVC Communication and co-founder of Advancing Voices of Women, a group to support and empower women as civic leaders.

Three members are Democrats:

  • Missie Summers-Kempf of Portage, who is active in a number of groups organized around racial justice and environmental issues in northwest Indiana.
  • Xavier Ramirez of Carmel, a student at Indiana University in Bloomington who works with the IU Civic Leaders Center as a student advisory board member.
  • Ranjan Rohatgi of South Bend, an assistant professor of mathematics and computer science at Saint Mary's College, where he developed a class called Mathematics of Voting.
Three members are part of either party:
  • Christopher Brandon Harris of Hammond, a project manager for a commercial construction general contractor who participates in the Mitch Daniels Leadership Foundation.
  • Sonia Leerkamp of Nineveh, the former Hamilton County prosecuting attorney who serves on the board of the League of Women Voters of Brown County.
  • Charles Taylor of Muncie, a professor of political science at Ball State University who has moderated numerous political forums and is committed to civic education.
A meeting in each of Indiana's nine districts will be conducted with the comments and reports to be shared with the Indiana General Assembly, according to Julia Vaughn, policy director of Common Cause Indiana and a leader of All IN for Democracy, an Indiana coalition for independent redistricting.

The Indiana Citizens Redistricting Commission includes nine people: three Republicans, three Democrats and three people who have no party affiliation who were selected by All IN for Democracy coalition. Nearly 300 Indiana residents applied for a seat as part of the commission, according to Vaughn. The purpose is to provide a nonpartisan group for determining how Indiana's various districts should be drawn, taking away partisan politics and the strong pull of the political party in power at the time.

"We encourage people to get engaged and stay engaged. This lays the groundwork for elections in our state for the next decade, so it's important to be involved in the process," Vaughn said.

This year those comments may be even more important than ever, Vaughn said, explaining that because results from 2020 U.S. census have been delayed by COVID-19 issues, the Indiana General Assembly will have to reconvene after its current session ends in late April in a special session to set the state's political districts.

"The fear is that their desire will be to get in and get out, without a lot of time for public comment," Vaughn said of the special session that will be called after the census data is available Sept. 30. "That's why it's so important for people to start talking about redistricting now."
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