BROOKINGS – League of Women Voters of South Dakota is hosting an educational forum on legislative redistricting at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

South Dakota State University political science professor Lisa Hager will speak on gerrymandering at “Will Your Vote Count?” at the McCrory Gardens Eduction and Visitor Center on the SDSU campus.

“It is essential for all American voters to understand the redistricting process and the impact of gerrymandering,” Hager said.

League of Women Voters South Dakota has received a $10,000 grant from the national League of Women Voters to hold comprehensive public education forums on legislative redistricting.

Nine events will take place in cities across the state in the next three months.

The forums are intended to increase voters’ knowledge and understanding of redistricting, how redistricting affects elections and alternatives to the current process.

The 2020 census will track population changes over the past 10 years and have a major impact on how legislative districts are redrawn in South Dakota. Currently, the state Legislature draws those lines. 

In 2016, South Dakotans voted on a constitutional amendment which would have removed that power from the Legislature and given it to a nine-member independent commission consisting of three Republican voters, three Democrat voters and three voters not affiliated with either of the two parties. That amendment was defeated, 57 percent to 43 percent.

Redistricting is being addressed in the courts as well as by legislative action and ballot initiatives. A 2005 federal court case in South Dakota, Bone Shirt v. Nelson, forced the state to redraw district lines in the southwest part of the state. 

Two cases recently before the Supreme Court, from Wisconsin and Maryland, were sent back to the states for further attempts at redistricting. The cases drew claims of gerrymandering from both Republicans and Democrats.

Hager is an assistant professor of political science in the Department of History, Political Science, Philosophy and Religion at SDSU and also serves as the adviser for the legal studies minor and Pre-Law Society. 

She received her doctorate in political science from Kent State University in August 2016 and served as a 2015-2016 American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow.