Voting Rights and Redistricting in Indiana
Senior Counsel Ami Gandhi testifies before the Senate Elections Committee during the final public hearing on redistricting.
On September 14, Indiana lawmakers finally released their proposed maps for state and federal House districts, approving them several days later. Maps for the Indiana Senate maps were similarly approved just last week, giving community members only a few days to analyze and provide comment on maps that will determine community resources and electoral power for the next 10 years.
Working with the Indiana State Conference of the NAACP and Count Us IN, we gave joint testimony during the final public hearing on redistricting before the Senate Elections Committee. Senior Counsel Ami Gandhi spoke about the rushed and non-transparent redistricting process and pointed to multiple examples where communities of color have been “cracked,” breaking them apart into multiple House or Senate districts.
Here’s an excerpt:
Communities Need Fairness & Transparency
Our constituents – especially Hoosiers of color – have consistently said they do not feel heard or respected as Indiana undertakes redistricting. Democrats, Republicans, and Indiana citizens across all ages and backgrounds are asking for transparency, fairness, and a non-partisan redistricting process in Indiana. By federal law, redistricting plans must be drawn in a manner that allows Indiana voters of color to elect candidates of their choice. Ultimately, community members themselves have the most relevant insights about whether specific proposed lines dilute their voting rights. Hoosiers deserve the time, data, and access they need to question this legislature about the specific proposed maps. Community members’ public comments need to be acknowledged and applied to this process, not just get swiftly ignored. The people demand it, and so does the federal Voting Rights Act.
Rushed timing
Lawmakers have rushed the public input process, first holding a series of public hearings before US Census data was released and before proposed maps were shared for public review and comment. In releasing their proposed 2021 maps, Indiana House and Republican Caucuses released partial information about their proposals with only a few days for community members to provide input before maps are scheduled to be passed by the legislature. This impossible, rushed timeline mirrors the last redistricting cycle in 2011, when only eight days passed between the unveiling of the Republican-proposed maps and their approval in the Indiana House. The public needs sufficient time to consider the proposed maps and the impact they will have on our communities, especially in underresourced areas where people of color, low-income people, and other marginalized groups already face heightened barriers to voter access and representation.
Lack of information
Community members need sufficient time as well as detailed, accessible, and reliable information. Both the House and Senate Republican Caucuses initially released PDF maps, making it impossible to accurately assess the demographics of total population or voting age population of the proposed maps – information that is necessary to evaluate compliance with civil rights protections for voters of color. As of September 23, again mere days before the maps are scheduled to be passed, Indiana Republicans have made draft Congressional, State House, and State Senate maps available as PDFs and shapefiles on their websites. With only a PDF map and shapefiles, it is very difficult to assess the demographics of total population or voting age population of the proposed maps without the help of a mapping expert.
This means that most constituents have difficulty understanding how the maps will impact who represents them and whom the proposed districts represent. At the very least, the Indiana House and Senate Republican Caucuses should display maps online via a userfriendly interface that allows people to view granular details regarding proposed districts. Additionally, the legislature should provide detailed information on racial demographics of proposed districts and all data used to draw districts, including Census, political, and demographic data.
The current flawed process leaves numerous questions raised by our community unanswered. Some of the concerns raised by Hoosiers of color include:
How many and which proposed districts are “majority-minority” and would allow Black voters and other voters of color to elect the candidates of our choice?
Have Black voters or other communities of color been divided or packed into districts, diluting our voting power and preventing us from electing the candidates of our choice?
Are these maps compliant with the equal protection standard as well as civil rights and voting rights laws?
How will these new districts impact people of color and communities of interest?
The information published to date falls far short of providing meaningful information or reassurance to communities of color concerned about our voting rights.
Limited accessibility
The public hearings so far have effectively barred most community members, and especially marginalized people, from being able to attend and participate. The majority have been held in Indianapolis during typical 9-5 work hours, with only the option to attend in-person. With such limited locations and sometimes insufficient seating, the accessibility of these hearings has become a significant concern. Black voters and voters of color heard a message of exclusion loud and clear when legislators scheduled zero redistricting hearings for Lake County, the second most populous county in Indiana and a place of great community importance for Black Hoosiers and Hoosiers of color. Lake County is the most diverse county in Indiana, with people of color making up nearly 50% of the population. Their voices need to be included in this process.
The Proposed Maps Break Apart Communities of Color
The Indiana legislature must comply with the United States Constitution and federal law when redrawing state legislative districts. These bedrock legal requirements provide an important safeguard to ensure a bare minimum of fair representation. The federal Voting Rights Act requires that district lines be drawn in a way that does not dilute the vote of Black and other communities of color. Specifically, Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act prohibits voting practices—including redistricting schemes—that result in members of a racial minority group having “less opportunity than other members of the electorate to participate in the political process and to elect representatives of their choice.” Since 1965, this provision has prevented the enactment of redistricting schemes that “pack” minority voters into fewer districts or “crack” them across many districts, both of which have the effect of diluting and reducing overall minority voting power and representational influence in the elected body.
A preliminary analysis suggests that there are multiple examples where communities of color have been “cracked,” breaking our communities apart into multiple House or Senate districts. The legislature must redraw such districts to keep communities of color together, or they risk violating the federal Voting Rights Act. The population of eligible voters of color are growing in Indiana, as set forth in more detail in our organizations’ September 16 publication titled Indiana Demographic Change and Redistricting.
According to United States Census 2020 data, Gary, Indianapolis, and Fort Wayne collectively make up 53% of Indiana’s Black community. Furthermore, each of these three areas are home to a diversity of communities of color, including Black, Latino, and Asian American people. Below are initial concerns regarding the impact of the proposed district lines on communities of color in these three geographic areas. Input from community members of color in these key areas will be essential for revising proposed maps to sufficiently protect these voters’ rights.
Chicago Lawyers’ Committee also submitted joint testimony with NAACP and Count US IN at an earlier public hearing before the House of Representatives on September 16, 2021.