2021 S.D. Legislature: Redistricting needed to ensure fair representation

Between now and our Special Session in November, the Legislature is developing a proposed “redistricting” plan. Due to the increase in our state’s population, there is a need to add approximately 2,500 people to each of the legislative districts. In addition, there is a shifting of population from rural areas to urban areas.

The goal of redistricting following each national census is the ensure that districts are nearly equal in number, nearly balanced in terms of political party members, reasonably fair in terms of geographical connections, maintaining past boundaries to the extent possible, and essentially creating a fair representation of the citizens living within that district. Redistricting also carries with it the need to ensure that various ethnic and political parties are fairly represented.  

In past redistricting plans there has been an effort to ensure that voting districts establish a balanced representation where tribal lands are included. Caselaw and redistricting standards bend in the direction of something in the nature of ‘affirmative action’ to ensure that there is an adequate mix of voters to make sure everyone/every people group has a voice in our elections. So, efforts to “gerrymander” are discouraged.  

In our state, there is a continuing increase in the percentage of voters who are “Republicans” and “Independents” while there is a decrease in the percentage of “Democrats”. Ideally, redistricting should simply be an exercise in ensuring that an even number of voters are included within each geographic area. If we are avoiding ‘gerrymandering’ for the presumed benefit of any given party or political persuasion, then we will be studying the voting tendencies of the ever-increasing percentage of ‘independent’ voters.

So, what should be a relatively simple exercise in making sure that you can vote in the same area as your friends and neighbors have become an area of politics that is ripe for debate and litigation.  

Public meetings are being held and voter input is being received all across the state. As we would expect, voters are expressing a desire to maintain the compact and continuous districts. The committee on redistricting has adopted a plan to allow for no more than a 5 percent deviation range as to the number of voters per district.  

Currently, there has been a lot of conversation centered around north Rapid City and what could be done to keep that area together to protect that “community of interest”. In addition, there has been discussion as to how the Ellsworth Air Force base and surrounding area can be included in the Rapid City voting region. It appears that will likely happen, as the base is expected to grow by as many as 3,000 people in the next few years.  

Discussions have also been had as to whether the census on tribal lands was even close to accurate. In light of the pandemic and other factors, it is certainly possible that voters living on the reservations have been undercounted. That is likely a recurring problem and definitely adds to the underrepresentation of tribal members. However, we are now left with no adequate recourse other than to strive to do a better job of counting in the next census 10 years from now.  

The Redistricting Committee continues to strive to apply their guiding principles, but it is likely that some precincts will be changed and some counties will be split. In the midst of that is the ever-present goal to protect minority voting interests in all areas of the state. That includes ethnic minorities as well as political minorities.  

As you might expect, there is an underlying political competition, but that is mostly liberal Republicans versus conservative Republicans. When the District lines are moved there will be incumbents who find themselves in a new District and will be running against their incumbent friends. Sadly, this appears to be what is behind some of the moving District lines. As the years go by there will be new candidates with either liberal or conservative leanings within the new Districts and the impact of doing away with some of the incumbent Legislative members will diminish. But it is a real and present effort at this time.  

Please take a look at the Redistricting Committee activities and, as always, feel free to contact me with questions or comments. You can also go to www.sdlegislature.gov to see what else is happening in state government.