INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana's secretary of state is pitching a plan that would make it illegal for lawmakers to consider political factors when redrawing congressional and legislative district maps.

Todd Rokita said Tuesday he wanted districts to follow county or township lines as much as possible so they are not divided, 6News' Norman Cox reported.

Rokita is a Republican who is the state's top elections officer, and he says the plan would result in more fairly drawn, competitive districts.

"They are arbitrarily based on politics," Rokita said at a Rotary Club meeting in Indianapolis. "I want to put fairness on the map. They meander and sprawl throughout the state."

Rokita showed a film clip of Indiana residents viewing the shapes of legislative districts and guessing what they looked like. The responses included a dog, dragons, alligators and a squirrel.

He presented examples of what the current districts could look like based on 2000 Census data. A firm was paid $50,000 to produce the examples, and Rokita's office is spending $60,000 to have a Web site -- rethinkingredistricting.com -- where people can learn more about the process and his proposals, and submit their own suggestions.

The proposal has drawn praise from Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels, but two top GOP lawmakers say it's not his job to interfere with a process that belongs in the hands of the General Assembly.

"I'm not sure why the secretary of state is trying to assert himself into the process," House said Minority Leader Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis.

Ed DeLaney, a Democrat who represents the 86th House District, which spans from 38th Street in Indianapolis to Carmel, said he enjoys representing a diverse group of constituents.

"I've got all kinds of different people. I've got billionaires, and I've got people scratching with their fingers to survive," he said. "And, you know what? I care about all groups because I have a mixed district."

But some voters on the southern end said they don't belong in the same district as affluent Carmel because they have different needs and concerns.

"If we're going to be in the same area as Carmel, then that means that they're going to want to tax us," one woman said.

"I just think that there are different needs, and certainly a different neighborhood, different demographics," one man said. "So I think this is a ways away from Carmel, and I don't think that they would be connected."

Bill Blomquist, a professor of political science at Indiana University Purdue University-Indianapolis said Rokita's plan would be a tough sell for some lawmakers.

"It's happened in other states. It's happened in some states, even without something like a citizen initiative to force it," he said. "So it's not out of the question that it could happen."

Legislative districts will be redrawn in 2011 using population data from the 2010 census.