SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
A group in Utah called the Mormon Women for Ethical Government is in the spotlife (ph). It's - spotlight. It's a plaintiff in a lawsuit that has now forced lawmakers to redistrict Utah's congressional seats. The new map could help a Democrat win a seat in this heavily Republican state. NPR's Saige Miller reports the group sees a direct line between redistricting and their faith.
SAIGE MILLER, BYLINE: Emma Petty Addams says she never expected to be front and center in Utah's redistricting battle. She's a classically trained pianist and a piano teacher, and she played a little at my request in her Salt Lake City home.
EMMA PETTY ADDAMS: (Playing piano).
It's kind of who I am, and once I can go back to that, I will (laughter). I just - at the moment, this thing called democracy, democratic republic...
MILLER: (Laughter).
PETTY ADDAMS: ...Is important. So...
MILLER: Addams is the co-executive director of Mormon Women for Ethical Government, also known as MWEG. The organization started on Facebook in 2017 in part to oppose what it calls dehumanizing behavior in government. It now claims more than 9,000 members nationwide, across the political spectrum, most of whom are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Laura Eyi is the group's public relations manager, and she identifies as a conservative Republican.
LAURA EYI: As members of the church step up to get engaged in their communities and in politics in general, they're going to do so in a way that honors the dignity of the person that they disagree with, and they're doing it in a peace-building way. And that really comes from a place of faith.
MILLER: The group tends to focus on the democratic process, like transparency and voting. That brings it to redistricting. Across the country, there's a race over redistricting set off by President Trump. He's called on Republican-led states to redraw the lines and help GOP candidates win seats in midterm elections next year. But MWEG has been working on redistricting for years, and for other reasons, Addams says.
PETTY ADDAMS: In states like Texas and other places, it's a partisan fight. It's between Democrats and Rs. Here in Utah, it is a cross-partisan, principled effort to try to put forward the best version of representative government we can possibly have.
MILLER: In 2018, Utah voters backed an independent commission to draw the state's voting districts and prevent partisan gerrymandering. But the Republican-led legislature took back the redistricting power, largely nullifying the state vote. Then it drew the current four House districts, all won by Republicans. The Mormon Women for Ethical Government joined with the League of Women Voters and some individual plaintiffs to sue, and they won. Vicki Reid, one of the plaintiffs, met me at Addams' house.
VICKI REID: Yes, Utah's a red state. That means that in a red state, more than 50% of the people voted for fair maps. And so, you know, the legislature has a responsibility to listen to people, and that just wasn't happening.
MILLER: The court ordered the legislature to redraw the districts, and they must pick a new map by next week. The updated boundaries could end up helping Democrats win a House seat. President Trump decried the ruling, saying "Utahns should be, quote, "outraged" by "their activist judiciary." Republican State Representative Candice Pierucci says the districts are up to lawmakers.
CANDICE PIERUCCI: The Utah constitution gives the sole responsibility and power to draw maps with the state legislature, period.
MILLER: Pierucci cochairs the redistricting committee. She says it's lawmakers, not the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, who really represent Utahns.
PIERUCCI: The legislature is actually elected by the citizens of Utah, as opposed to these different third-party groups that have their own donor groups and their own members that they are beholden to. They do not report back to the voters of Utah.
MILLER: Lawmakers plan to appeal to the Utah Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court, if they have to. Back at the house with Addams and the others with Mormon Women for Ethical Government, Reid refers to a hymn to explain why she joined the case.
REID: The one thing that comes to my mind is a hymn that we have, which has, do what is right. Let the consequence follow.
MILLER: And for Reid, fighting for fair congressional maps is the right thing to do.
Saige Miller, NPR News.
PETTY ADDAMS: (Playing piano). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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