Today, Common Cause Indiana released a draft map of new Indianapolis Marion County City County Council districts drawn by its multi-partisan Indianapolis Citizens Redistricting Commission (ICRC) and urged the Council to provide additional opportunity for public comment before finalizing the new map.  The ICRC consists of nine Indianapolis voters:  three Republicans, three Democrats and three individuals who are neither Republican nor Democrat.  Last week, the ICRC spent Tuesday and Wednesday evening online with a mapping expert working to develop a draft map.  It was sent to members of the City Council’s Rules and Public Policy Committee today with the request that it be considered along with the redistricting proposal developed by an outside law firm at the behest of the Council majority. 

Last night, Common Cause Indiana and the Indiana State Conference of the NAACP filed a federal lawsuit challenging Indiana’s unjustifiably early deadline of noon on Election Day to receive mail-in ballots during the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana. The plaintiffs are being represented in the case by Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, the national Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and Indianapolis attorneys Bill Groth and Mark Sniderman.

Today, Common Cause Indiana and several registered voters in Saint Joseph County – Mary Frederick, John Justin Collier, William Marks Jr., and Minnie Lee Clark – filed suit against Secretary of State Connie Lawson and members of the St. Joseph County Election Board for rejecting outright their absentee ballots with purported signature mismatches in violation of their due process and equal protection rights under the federal constitution.