Council Democrats File Suit Over Redistricting Maps

This afternoon, City-County Council Democratic leadership file a lawsuit over the Council district maps.  Here is their press release:

 INDIANAPOLIS - This afternoon, President Maggie A. Lewis, Vice-President John Barth and Majority Leader Vern Brown, filed a lawsuit in the Marion Superior Court against the Marion County Election Board citing violations of Indiana law regarding mandatory redistricting.  

"State law requires redistricting during the second year after new census data has been reported. The maps enacted by the lame-duck council in December 2011 violate this requirement.  Those maps also made drastic and illogical changes to the current districts for purely partisan reasons,” stated Councillor Lewis.  “This council passed maps that made only minimal changes to the current districts, but the Mayor vetoed them. This means there are no legally valid maps in place, so we are asking the court to draw the district maps, as it did in 2003." 

"The redistricting maps we have created correlate directly with the new data and offer a balanced representation of the various constituencies we represent.   The maps we have drawn are balanced, compact, honor natural boundaries, and areas of interest," she added.