Indianapolis Mayor Disputes Redistricting Charges

Photo: Rob Annis (Flickr)

Opponents of the redistricting have accused Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard of playing politics with the proposed maps.

Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard’s office says a simultaneous redraw of council districts and voting precincts is motivated by money, not politics. Democrats have accused Ballard and city-county council Republicans of shutting them out while they prepared precinct and district maps together.

Ballard spokesman Marc Lotter says doing both maps at the same time saved the county about a half-million dollars. He disputes charges that state election officials wanted Ballard to take more time.

“The reprecincting information was shown to the election division,” Lotter says. “They actually made some comments and made some adjustments, which were then incorporated into the final order that was signed by Mayor Ballard.”

Ballard was required to approve a precinct map by year‘s end to clean up precincts split in two by new legislative districts. The council map is council‘s responsibility. Lotter says if Democrats throw out a Republican map and draw their own next year, the mayor will evaluate it the same way he will the GOP proposal.