Seizing on a national spotlight about the drawing of political maps, a group of Louisiana residents wanting to rework the state’s method of divvying up electoral districts announced they will hold a summit in January with the goal of bringing about change.
“We have a problem with the current structure,” says Stephen Kearny, chairman of the event and co-founder of Fair Districts Louisiana, which bills itself as a grassroots, bipartisan group. “No matter how virtuous our politicians are, the conflict of interest in being able to choose your own voters in itself provokes bad behavior.”
Fair Districts Louisiana is working with LSU’s Reilly Center for Media and Public Affairs on the daylong summit, scheduled for Jan. 19. The event aims to start talks about revamping Louisiana’s current map-drawing method ahead of the next redistricting cycle tied to the 2020 Census.
Every decade after the release of the latest Census data, states redraw their political maps to address population shifts. In Louisiana, as in most other states, the Legislature determines the electoral districts for congressional, state House and state Senate seats.
The maps have prompted lawsuits in several states, amid growing criticism that political parties are using legislative control to give themselves unfair electoral advantages. The U.S. Supreme Court is considering a case challenging the way Wisconsin Republicans drew districts that could lead to changes across the country.
Rep. Julie Stokes, who plans to attend the summit, says Louisiana districts have been drawn to be “ultraliberal or ultraconservative,” and don’t represent where many residents sit ideologically. She sees the January event as a way to learn about “best practices across the country.”
“I just think that there’s a whole lot of people that are underrepresented because districts are drawn in a way that are too ideological in one direction or the other,” says Stokes, a Kenner Republican. “I have people come up to me all the time and say that they feel like the outliers are making all the decisions.”
