EDITORIAL: Anderson City Council to blame for redistricting fiasco

Jan. 27—Anderson City Council members in 2021 and 2022 should feel ashamed that their failure to realign the city districts has led to a bill in the Indiana General Assembly.

Sen. Mike Gaskill, the Republican from Pendleton, recently introduced Senate Bill 135, which would require some redistricting authorities to redistrict or recertify election districts before June 30, 2025. If they don't, then the members of the redistricting authority — in this case, the city council — are not to receive any payment of salary.

No redistricting, no paycheck. Sounds fair.

Gaskill's bill passed 7-0 in the Senate Elections Committee he chairs.

The penalty is not harsh. Redistricting is a state-mandated responsibility that hundreds of local cities and school districts are to perform every 10 years following the federal census.

In January, an independent group known as the Indiana Local Redistricting Project released a study of the situation, reporting, "Of Indiana's counties, school corporations, cities, and towns that were legally obliged to redistrict by the end of 2022, we found 23 counties, 12 school corporations, and as many as 90 cities and towns that did not redistrict.

"A few local government officials knew they were required to redistrict and refused to do it. Most, however, either did not know they were required to redistrict or feared it would be too complicated and expensive."

In 2022, state legislators gave an extension to the end of that calendar year to counties and school corporations that failed to redistrict in 2021. The General Assembly also prohibited redistricting by any local government after 2022 unless a lawsuit was filed.

Even then, two cities failed to conduct redistricting: Gary and Anderson.

Gary responded to a lawsuit by adopting a new map.

The Anderson council was the only one in Indiana to reject a redistricting plan in a split 6-3 vote that made no changes in the district map. And it's not like we should blame council members who voted one way or the other — each side is to blame for not finding a compromise.

Council members during that time were Jeff Freeman, Lance Stephenson, Rebecca Crumes, Joe Newman, Ollie Dixon, Jennifer Culp, Ty Bibbs, Rick Muir and Jon Bell. Muir, Bell, Crumes and Bibbs are no longer on the council.

In an effort to correct the matter, Common Cause of Indiana filed a federal lawsuit hoping that a judge would force the council to perform its duty. The City Council has still not redistricted, and Common Cause asked for summary judgment to be issued in its favor.

At issue is the imbalance of populations in Anderson's six council districts. For example, District 3 on the south side has 11,643 residents. District 4 on the west side is at 7,490.

Districts are to have similar populations. It is commonly held that districts can have up to a 10% difference. The difference between Districts 3 and 4 is 45%. For an even split, each district should have about 9,131 residents, according to a researcher for Common Cause.

Unlike the Anderson City Council, Gaskill has taken the complaint to heart.

So, the singular issue in Anderson has led locally to a waste of time and money. At the state level, the Anderson City Council mess is leading the entire Indiana General Assembly and possibly Gov. Eric Holcomb into the battle. More time, more money, more embarrassment.

Many legislators might see Senate Bill 135 as a singular issue caused by Anderson's indolence. But, moving ahead, this bill's salary provision could well discourage governmental bodies from avoiding their mandated mission to redistrict every 10 years.

In Anderson, the mess awaits resolution — either by a federal judge or the state legislature.