Although the Indiana Senate did the right thing by rejecting mid-term redistricting, it may, Freddy Krueger-like, come back after this election cycle.
A way to prevent that would be a constitutional amendment to do the following:
1. Redistricting shall be performed once — and only once — after each federal Census.
2. Redistricting criteria are restricted to population distribution and geographic community cohesion ONLY. The geographic shape of districts shall be as close to rectangular as possible within the constraints of those criteria. All other criteria, including but not limited to, voting behavior or racial/ethnic mix are prohibited.
3. Redistricting shall be performed by a nonpartisan board of Indiana residents with expertise in demography.
How to select the board in No. 3 is vague in this working draft, and the devil is in the details. But done well, these changes might not only prevent future mischief in our state but perhaps even be a model for others to consider.
— William Tilford of Lafayette
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Letter to the editor: Let’s codify redistricting rules in state constitution
Reporting by William Tilford, Lafayette Journal & Courier / Lafayette Journal & Courier
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