Viewpoint: Let's fight for fairness in how Indiana draws the (district) lines
When I served in the Indiana State Senate from the late '70s to the early '90s, the ground under was shifting even then. Hoosier voters tended to favor Republicans for their governor, though Frank O’Bannon and Joe Kernan were a Democratic team whose hometowns ranged from the banks of the Ohio to the Lake Country up here where we live.
Times change and the Democratic coalition — one based on (1) college towns like my district here; (2) “The Region” (NW Indiana); and (3) the Ohio River Southern Indiana Democrats — has lost its ability to carry statewide offices now and again.
As a long-time Democrat, my complaint here is not with the natural tendency of Indiana to be a pretty regular “red” state. It’s with the abuse of powers and traditions of state government to perpetuate one-party rule. It’s not even the numerical weakness, verging on irrelevance of Democrats in the legislature. It’s the obvious and inevitable “kingship” attitude of a supermajority.
Many reforms can be put on the table, but to me the most important, above all, is the need for nonpartisan binding redistricting of state senator and representative districts. Currently, 21 U.S. states have some form of nonpartisan or bipartisan redistricting commission. Of these 21 states, 13 use redistricting commissions to exclusively draw electoral district boundaries. Indiana legislative leaders created a sham by setting up a toothless “advisory” commission of well-intentioned citizens.
As a Midwesterner and a Hoosier, I’ve taken a kind of old-fashioned pride in our Indiana Constitution, in large part because the bedrock of it was the General Assembly, the “People’s House.” A number of states, especially in the West, allow voter referendums to make major policy decisions as well as constitutional amendments. Problem is, many of those have become just high-spending competition between special interests.
I’m not ready to give up on our General Assembly. Yes, in Indiana, maybe we do “go slow” on some so-called reforms. For instance, the voters can vote on an amendment to the Indiana Constitution only after that proposal has been passed by two successive General Assemblies.
Maybe that too needs to change. But first, let’s fight for fairness in how we draw up the districts so there is an honest respect in those boundaries for the communities they’re supposed to represent. With computer programs able to spew thousands of variations, most with the single goal of keeping the majority in power as far as the eye can see, the need for citizen-driven redistricting has never been greater.
Indiana needs to join the emerging majority of states that hear and honor the voice of the voters by setting up a true nonpartisan or bipartisan commission. There is nothing to prevent truly honest redistricting now rather than wait until the next 10-year census. Only then, if the voters decide to give a supermajority to one party or another, will they will do so with open eyes.
Doug Hunt represented South Bend/Mishawaka in the Indiana state Senate for 20 years.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Let's fight for fairness in how Indiana draws the (district) lines
