Indiana House Democrats were unsuccessful Wednesday at amending the Republican redistricting proposal.

By a vote of 68-27, Republicans turned back a Democrat amendment which supporters say would have created more politically competitive maps.

Democrats argued the following…

  • Fulfills all constitutional requirements.
  • Reflects the considerations proposed by Hoosiers in statewide redistricting hearings.
  • Prioritizes competitiveness by minimizing the number of wasted votes.

By removing the legislators from the process, these proposed districts were free of inherent conflicts-of-interest,” State Rep. Matt Pierce of Bloomington said. “This map reflects the will of Hoosier voters,” Pierce added. “According to political scientist Christopher Warshaw, Republicans can be expected to win 69 of the 100 House seats with their map despite garnering only 56% of the vote.  The citizen-drawn map still gives House Republicans a few more seats than their baseline vote would suggest, but it is fairly close to the state’s current political makeup.”

You can view a copy of the Democratic map here.

You can hear Pierce of Bloomington in the Leon-Tailored Audio above.  It runs for about 16 minutes.