The Evansville Courier & Press
The Indiana Senate this past week made modest progress that could eventually lead to an end of gerrymandering in the redrawing of legislative and congressional districts every 10 years. The key word is "could."
That would depend on the final form of the legislation, should it become law, and the attitude of lawmakers who actually participate in redrawing districts next year.
Of course, the legislature in 2011 will be charged with redrawing political districts, based on census numbers collected this year. Historically, Indiana makes a mess of it. Using past voting data, legislative majorities, regardless of party, craft new districts that give them the optimum advantage in subsequent elections.
Political advantage is the reason legislative district lines slice through counties or neighborhoods. It is the reason congressional districts end up joining counties that have no common interest. It is the reason Indiana's 8th Congressional District stretches far north to Benton County, which is just a short drive on up to Chicago.
Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita and others who favor ending the shameful practice of gerrymandering point out that Indiana districts are redrawn every 10 years so as to allow entrenched public officials to decide who will vote for them. (Consider that often, incumbent legislators are unopposed. Potential opponents see them as nearly unbeatable, given the makeup of the district.)
Instead, the voters should have some freedom in deciding who they will vote for in each election. They don't have that freedom when an incumbent is unopposed.
As we said, some modest progress was made this past week. Senate Bill 80, which passed 47-1, would require that districts be drawn in simple shapes and honor such existing boundaries as county lines and neighborhoods. Also, it would mandate that districts keep cultural, ethnic, geographic and similar socioeconomic areas together.
That's great, as far as it goes. However, it does not include a prohibition against using voting data in the determining of district boundaries.
Senate Bill 136, which passed 45-3, would establish a bipartisan commission, which would be chaired by Indiana Chief Justice Randall Shepard, to study the issue and to base its eventual recommendations on the standards proposed in the other bill.
The commission would watch the 2010 election, would look at redistricting methods used in other states, and would draft legislation that would lead to a bipartisan commission doing the redistricting each decade.
That would be great, especially in 2021, but we and others are looking for something more current.
As Sen. Tim Lanane, D-Anderson, suggested in a story by Eric Bradner of the Courier & Presss Capitol Bureau the proposed Shepard commission could do "much of the heavy lifiting" in time for the 2011 redistricting.
Indeed, create that bipartisan commission with the intention of having that panel draw up legislative and congressional districts with no political bias. Then, have the commission present the proposed new districts to the legislature in the form of recommendations.
Most important, ask lawmakers elected later this year to commit to respecting the recommendations of the appointed commission. That would better assure that Indiana would have voter-friendly districts now, not 10 years from now.
After that, if the legislature wants -- and those who dither on this important issue will love it -- take 10 years to decide whether to make the nonpartisan commission a permanent part of Indiana government.
We would support that, too.