Putting cows on the front page since 1885.
Putting cows on the front page since 1885.
Group is advocating for a system that makes the process clearer to residents
Fair Districts PA uses this example to show how, over time, districts are drawn to favor one party over another. This example above shows PA's 7th Congressional District changing over time. Sixty years ago, in 1952, it was a compact, logical shape. It was redrawn after each U.S. Census until 2018, when the Pa. Supreme Court declared the 2011 district maps to be unconstitutional. That is, they were "gerrymandered" to unfairly favor one political party. By 2013, the district had grown into a squiggle of lines contorting its way from Plymouth Meeting, north of Philadelphia, down to Kennett Square in Chester County, and then all the way over to parts of Lancaster County. This is the district's shape in 2013, shown above This district's nickname was "Goofy kicking Donald.") This was not a fair voting district. The district took on this odd, non-compact shape in order to unfairly capture more Republican voters and thus favor the Republican Party, as determined by the Pa. Supreme Court.
Examples of districts "gerrymandered" to favor one political party, according to Fair Districts PA.
Debbie Trudeau, volunteer for the advocacy group Fair Districts Pennsylvania, says the group's goal is to end gerrymandering.
Gerrymandering, is the process of creating voting districts to try to guarantee that one party wins and the other party loses any election in the district.
The group wants to get Senate Bill 222 and House Bill 22, also known as the "Legislative and Congressional Redistricting Act," passed and in place in time to make a difference in the redistricting that will happen within the next year.
Fair Districts PA states on its website that it is "a nonpartisan, statewide coalition of organizations and individuals working to create a process for redistricting that is transparent, impartial, and fair."
In the past four years, the group has been advocating for having an independent citizen's commission draw the lines for voting districts.
The problem, as stated by Fair Districts PA, is that current Pa. law puts state legislators in charge of redistricting. Redistricting is the process of redrawing voting districts, which happens every 10 years to reflect population changes. Redistricting will happen soon, because it happens after each census and the 2020 Census was just completed.
Some people believe – and there is evidence for – the idea that politicians should not draw the lines for voting districts. The reason is that the party with a majority in the state legislature gets to create the voting districts and often creates a district that benefits the party in power, not the voters or the commonwealth in general. In short, the argument is that politicians drawing their own districts creates a conflict of interest.
The group offers a video explaining gerrymandering and its position at https://youtu.be/wRqNEv5aimI
More information about redistricting can also be found at https://redistricting.lls.edu
Trudeau said that by having an independent citizens group create voting districts, there would be more objectivity.
Who is responsible?
The election resource Ballotpedia.org states that according to the United States Constitution, the states and their legislatures have primary authority in determining the "times, places, and manner" of congressional elections. Thus, the federal government does not tell states how to conduct redistricting, so how it is done varies from state to state.
Some states, like Pennsylvania, have elected officials draw the districts. Other states have independent citizen commissions draw the districts or have citizens committees advise legislators.
However, some elected officials object to the idea of having a citizens commission conduct redistricting and oppose big changes in the way Pa. redistricts.
Ballotpedia states that in Pennsylvania, the statutory authority to draw congressional district boundaries is vested with the Pennsylvania General Assembly. These lines are subject to veto by the governor.
State legislative district lines are drawn by a commission of politicians. Established in 1968, the commission comprises five members:
• The majority leader of the Pennsylvania State Senate appoints one member.
• The minority leader of the Pennsylvania State Senate appoints one member.
• The majority leader of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives appoints one member.
• The minority leader of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives appoints one member.
The first four commissioners appoint a fifth member to serve as the commission's chair. If the commission is unable to reach an agreement, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court must appoint a commission chair.
The Pennsylvania Constitution requires that state legislative districts be contiguous and compact. Further, state legislative districts should "respect county, city, incorporated town, borough, township and ward boundaries." There are no such requirements in place for congressional districts.
What is being considered
Fair Districts PA supports the bills under consideration, Senate Bill 222 and House Bill 22, saying that they will improve the public's knowledge of the redistricting process.
"What this legislation does is instead of being behind closed doors like in the past, it will happen in public," Trudeau said. "There will be public hearings. There will be a website. They will make publicly available all of the data that they are using."
Trudeau said that under the proposed changes, state residents would be allowed to submit proposed district maps. Requirement for districts would include that they would have to comply with the voting rights act. Districts would not be allowed to be drawn to favor any political party.
What it means
Trudeau said that some of the problems with the current system of redistricting are very simple to understand. A good example is explained by the Washington Post here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/06/27/what-is-gerrymandering-why-is-it-problematic/
On effect, Trudeau said, that Pennsylvania has the biggest full-time legislature in the U.S. but it passes the least number of bills.
"Because of the way the districts are rigged, we have an unusual high number of Republicans in Harrisburg," she said.
In 2012 in Pennsylvania, for instance, Republicans got 49 percent of the votes statewide in U.S. House races but captured 13 of the 18 state's U.S. House seats. So while earning 49 percent of the vote, the Republicans captured 72 percent of the seats. Note that Republicans who consider this to be a positive situation should consider the consequences if the Democrats were the ones drawing the districts.
Gerrymandering, or drawing districts to favor one party, creates an imbalance, Trudeau said. After the last census, the Republicans drew districts that favored Republicans. This helped Republicans to win more elections. When one party wins more elections, it has more power in the legislature. This is acceptable if the elections are won in districts where each party has a roughly equal chance of winning. But it is not fair if one party creates districts to favor its own candidates and makes it significantly harder for the other party to win the district.
One result of this, Trudeau said, is that during the last Pa. legislative session, the Republicans got nine bills passed for every one that the Democrats got passed.
Trudeau pointed out that for the entire state of Pennsylvania, the registrations of voters is four Democrats to three Republicans to one independent.
According to Trudeau, that shows that the party which actually has most number of voters and which is and getting the most number of votes overall, is getting the "raw end of the deal." Simply, the Democrats should control more districts but don't because the districts are constructed to favor the electing of Republican candidates.
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