Common Cause Indiana, the Anderson-Madison County NAACP, the League of Women Voters Indiana, and individual voters filed a federal lawsuit against the city’s Common Council for failing to draw new maps before the Dec. 31, 2022 redistricting deadline. The suit highlighted the Common Council’s inaction in the lead up to the deadline. Following the decennial Census, the Council found that it needed to redraw the maps of six single-member districts within the city.

While Indiana law does not require state and local districts to be exactly equal in population, courts have held that more than a 10% deviation in district population may violate 14th Amendment equal protection. The districts in Anderson currently hold a 46% deviation. But despite the knowledge of this malapportionment, the Council voted not to engage in redistricting. The plaintiffs argued that this violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.