The St. Joseph County Council meets Dec. 28, 2021 to consider competing Democratic and Republican plans for redrawing county election maps. Staff photo by Christian Sheckler
SOUTH BEND — Nearly all members of the St. Joseph County Council initially failed to turn over emails or text messages in response to a South Bend Tribune request for communications about the county’s redistricting process, despite guidance from the state’s top records expert that such messages are public information.
The Tribune filed a complaint this week with the Indiana public access counselor. It alleges that the county and individual council members violated the Indiana Access to Public Records Act by not disclosing the text messages and emails sent or received via personal accounts.
Late last week, a few council members changed course and released at least some of their messages to The Tribune after being questioned about their initial failure to do so.
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The failure to release the messages highlights how county officials have kept information about redistricting — the process of drawing new election maps — from the public. And it comes as Democrats and Republicans spend upward of $80,000 in taxpayer money on a partisan fight over the maps.
Those maps are now held up in court, after the Democratic-controlled council filed a lawsuit seeking to block a plan by the all-GOP Board of Commissioners that could give Republicans an edge in county elections.
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