Redistricting meetings don’t include Lake County site
‘Statehouse Republicans have already begun limiting public involvement’
Valparaiso will be the closest location Lake County residents could attend an upcoming public meeting to discuss redistricting, which area Democrats say limits access for a large county and was a strategic choice to avoid a largely Democratic area of the state.
Every 10 years, following the census, states are given the opportunity to redraw electoral district lines. The political party with the majority within the state leads the charge on redrawing the map and experts say it is common for the majority party to redraw the lines in their political party’s favor, known as gerrymandering.
Over the course of two days, on
Aug. 6 and 7, the Republican chairmen of the Senate and House election committees will host public meetings to be held at the Ivy Tech campuses in Valparaiso, Lafayette, Fort Wayne, Elkhart, Anderson, Columbus, Evansville and Sellersburg, according to a release.
The Valparaiso meeting will be held from 3-5 p.m. Aug. 6 at the Ivy Tech campus, 3100 Ivy Tech Drive, according to the release. An additional meeting is also scheduled at the statehouse in Indianapolis from 1-3 p.m. (Eastern time) Aug. 11, according to the release.
House Democratic Leader Phil GiaQuinta, D-Fort Wayne, sent a letter to House Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers, and Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray, R-Martinsville, calling on them to schedule more public hearings stating that the three days in August “will be of little value” because the proposed new district maps won’t be available yet.
Census data is not yet available and there are no redistricting bills with concrete proposals
pending in the legislature, GiaQuinta said, so “the public will be commenting on abstract concepts rather than detailed proposals.”
“The House and Senate Elections Committees must hold a second round of public hearings across the state after the Republican redistricting plans are made public,” GiaQuinta wrote in the letter. “Without these additional hearings, the redistricting process will not have meaningful public input.”
Sen. Eddie Melton, D-Gary, said each voter should have the opportunity to be actively engaged in the process because “the way voting maps are drawn impacts every resident, and they have the right to weigh in and share their input on the way their communities are drawn.”
“Unfortunately, Statehouse Republicans have already begun limiting public involvement in the redistricting process by not scheduling public hearings in some of our state’s most populated areas — including Lake County,” Melton said. “By not arranging meetings in communities that lack adequate public transportation to access these forums, it’s all but guaranteed that some Indiana residents will be left out of the process.”
According to a recent study by Women4Change Indiana, the state’s maps are more partisan than 95% of maps in the country, Melton said, which is why residents need to be able “to participate in a transparent and inclusive process.”
Lake County Democratic Party Chairman James Wieser said that by not holding a meeting in Lake County the Republican Party is disregarding a county with a large population with many municipalities. In the 2020 general election, there were 371,172 registered voters, according to Lake County election data.
In 2010, the last time redistricting was conducted, the process was “unfair to Lake County and our districts,” Wieser said. Back then, Republicans redrew the Second Congressional District — which was then held by Democrat U.S. Rep Joe Donnelly — to move Michigan City into the First Congressional District, held then by former U.S. Rep Pete Visclosky, to pack Democrats into one district.
In the following election, Donnelly was elected to the U.S. Senate and the Second Congressional District seat has been held by Republicans ever since, Wieser said. U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski, a Republican, has held the Second Congressional seat since 2013.
The 19th House District was redrawn to take out a portion of Merrillville and extend into Porter County, which helped give the district a Republican edge, Wieser said. The 15th House District — which covers portions of Schererville, Dyer, St. John and Griffith — was drawn with the purpose of being a Republican seat, Wieser said.
“If there’s only one political party making all the decisions, that’s what you’re going to get,” Wieser said. “We didn’t have a say in the matter. It was ‘it’s my way or the highway because I can.’ ”
But, Wieser said he and other Lake County representatives will attend the meeting in Valparaiso.
“(Republicans) don’t want to face the tough challenge or questions that we’ll make to them,” Wieser said. “We’ll go and we’ll express our opinion in the ‘whatever its worth’ column, but we’ll be there.”
Holding public meetings across the state over the course of two days is not enough time to get proper public input, Wieser said.
“If the Republicans were serious about this, it would clearly be longer than two days. It should be two weeks or more, frankly. But, they’re not serious about this. They are checking a box,” Wieser said.
Rep. Michael Aylesworth, R-Hebron, said the redistricting public meetings are typically held regionally and in different locations.
As someone who lives in Porter County, Aylesworth said he isn’t as concerned about a meeting not being held in Lake County “as perhaps people in Lake County.” Overall, he said is glad a meeting will be held in Northwest Indiana.
“Lake County is ways away from surrounding counties. They seemed to pick places that are central to the district,” Aylesworth said. “At least (one meeting) is close to Northwest Indiana.”
Holding public meetings over the course of two days “should be adequate”
because public comment will still be heard and considered, Aylesworth said.
The census data was delayed this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Aylesworth said, which means the legislature will go back into a special session in the fall to approve the district maps.
“This puts it on a later time frame, and we just have to deal with it as a legislature,” Aylesworth said.
Lake County Republican Party Chairman Dan Dernulc said he is “a bit disappointed” that there won’t be a meeting in Lake County, but that people who want to attend a redistricting meeting will still have the opportunity.
“You could always use more (meetings), but please keep in mind they’re on a tight timeline,” Dernulc said.
Dernulc said he didn’t have an enough information to determine one way or another if an independent group should lead redistricting. Wieser said he supports an independent commission creating district maps.
“But, that won’t happen given the current partisan climate,” Wieser said, adding that Republicans wouldn’t support that plan because it would loosen “their stranglehold” on the state.