GOP and Dems to explore compromise in St. Joseph County election map fight

SOUTH BEND — St. Joseph County Democrats and Republicans could explore a compromise on new county election maps, after the sides agreed to participate in mediation as part of the lawsuit the County Council filed over a GOP redistricting plan.

The Democratic-controlled council, the county’s legislative branch, sued last month after the Board of Commissioners, the all-GOP executive body, passed redrawn commissioner districts that could give Republicans an edge in local elections for the next decade.

In a joint motion last week, the sides said they wanted to enter mediation and asked for retired St. Joseph Superior Court Judge Steven Hostetler to lead the talks.

Special Judge Mary Beth Bonaventura, who is presiding over the case, granted the request to appoint Hostetler on Tuesday.

The timeline of the mediation process and the likelihood of success are not clear.

Indiana: St. Joseph County has yet to release emails about redistricting. It's been 3 months.

In its lawsuit, the council alleges the Indiana laws that govern St. Joseph County’s unusual redistricting and election process are illegal because they single out the county for a different process than the one used by all but three counties. Indiana’s constitution prohibits “special legislation” regulating the election of county officeholders.

Council President Rafael Morton, a Democrat, said he expected the mediation to focus on finding a set of redrawn district maps both sides can accept.

“It’s a matter of both sides getting together and trying to come up with a map that is going to be agreeable to both sides,” Morton said. “That’s the end goal.”

Commissioners President Andy Kostielney did not return a call seeking comment Tuesday.

Whitney Riggs, a spokeswoman for Kroger, Gardis & Regas, the law firm representing the commissioners, said the firm does not comment on pending litigation.

The controversy over this year’s St. Joseph County redistricting process started this past fall, after the commissioners hired Kroger, led by former Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma, to help draw the new commissioner maps.

Those proposed maps would give Republicans a bigger advantage in two of the three commissioner districts while shifting Democrats and racial minorities to the third.

The maps also could give Republicans more favorable County Council districts. That’s because three council districts must “nest” inside each commissioner district.

The commissioners had more control over St. Joseph County redistricting this year because the GOP-controlled state legislature passed a law in 2021 that allowed the commissioners to draw their own districts without approval by the council.

At stake for Democrats is a two-thirds council majority that allows them to override vetoes by the commissioners.

The council is represented by a team that includes Kip Tew, a former Indiana Democratic Party chairman, and former Indiana House Speaker John Gregg.

Lawsuit filed over 40-year-old law: Redistricting suit seeks to overturn Indiana law that singles out St. Joseph County

If mediation fails and the council’s lawsuit is successful, it would dramatically change the process that has governed St. Joseph County elections for the past 40 years.

Under a state law that has been on the books since 1981, St. Joseph County government has an unusual structure.

It has a nine-member council, with each member elected in a single district. Almost every other county has a seven-member council, with four members elected in districts and the other three elected “at large” by voters countywide.

The three St. Joseph County commissioners also are each elected in districts, whereas commissioners throughout most of the state are elected countywide.

Lake County also has a nine-member council with members elected in districts, as well as commissioners elected in districts. Marion County’s government is combined with the city of Indianapolis.

The County Council’s lawsuit argues the current state law is unconstitutional and deprives St. Joseph County voters the same privileges enjoyed in other counties, where each voter can help elect a majority of the council – one district member and three at-large members – and all three commissioners.

Republicans, on the other hand, have pointed out Democrats never objected to the county’s current setup until now, when faced with a redistricting plan that won’t benefit them.

State law does not single out St. Joseph County by name, but instead establishes the unusual requirements for counties with populations between 250,000 and 270,000 – of which St. Joseph was the only one.

Democrats also have argued that law should no longer apply to St. Joseph County because its population grew beyond 270,000 in the 2020 census.

A bill proposed this month by state Rep. Jake Teshka, R-South Bend, would change that law’s upper population limit to 300,000, keeping St. Joseph County under its existing rules. The bill was referred to the House Committee on Elections and Apportionment but has yet to get a hearing.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: St. Joseph County redistricting fight to go to mediation