From: Dennis Baute
Columbus
Bartholomew County commissioner districts are divided such that District 1 contains about 12,000 voters, District 2 contains about 33,000 voters, and District 3 contains about 7,000 voters.
Everyone gets to vote for all the commissioners, but our district maps crowd Columbus into District 2 and have done so for a long time. We currently do not have a commissioner residing in the city and we have not had one for a long time. It is unlikely Columbus could ever have more than one commissioner under the current setup.
Given that the city of Columbus provides not just more citizens but also more revenue than the rural areas provide for county government, isn’t it time the gerrymandering in favor of rural representation stopped?
Please contact the county commissioners; they have an opportunity to correct the unbalanced district lines but are unlikely to do so unless their constituents demand it.
