Redistricting

The congressional and legislative district boundaries are redrawn every 10 years, based on data gleaned from the U.S. Census. Over the years — in Indiana and elsewhere — these lines have been drawn to diminish the electoral clout of racial minorities and/or keep a dominant political party in power. The result: noncompetitive districts that resemble the inkblots used in a Rorschach test, millions of frustrated voters, and a whole bunch of legal challenges, including some that have gone all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. On this week’s show, we’ll examine the long-running debate over how Hoosiers’ congressional and legislative district maps take shape. Joining Host Jon Schwantes this week to talk about Indiana’s redistricting process will be Senator Tim Lanane, a Democrat from Anderson, Julia Vaughn, policy director of Common Cause Indiana and Jay Yeager, an Indianapolis attorney who’s been at the forefront of several recent legal battles over gerrymandering.