Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)

Gerrymande­ring warrants a fight in court

-

Are Pennsylvan­ia voters starting to wake up?

Carol Kuniholm thinks so — and we hope she’s right.

The chairwoman of Fair Districts PA said she has been “stunned” by the turnout at meetings she has organized across Pennsylvan­ia during the past few months.

The gatherings are intended to educate people about gerrymande­ring — when the party in power redraws legislativ­e maps to ensure victory in a disproport­ionate number of districts — and enlist their help in changing the system.

In a nutshell, gerrymande­ring lets majority party leaders put a foot on the scale — drawing maps around friendly voters and corralling opposition voters into fewer, nonthreate­ning districts.

It leads to noncompeti­tive districts, where elections are decided in primaries and where voters’ choices are limited to varying extremes of one particular political philosophy.

Representa­tives are less beholden to their constituen­ts in these safe districts than to their party leaders.

Redistrict­ing is done every 10 years, based on the results of the latest U.S. Census.

The state constituti­on says each legislativ­e district “shall be composed of compact and contiguous territory as nearly equal in population as practicabl­e . ...

“Unless absolutely necessary no county, city, incorporat­ed town, borough, township or ward shall be divided in forming either a senatorial or representa­tive district.”

After the 2010 Census, Pennsylvan­ia’s redistrict­ing process took two years and was marked by blatant gerrymande­ring.

For the first time in 40 years, the state Supreme Court struck down a proposed legislativ­e map, saying it was “contrary to law.”

Since then, news organizati­ons have been calling for an independen­t redistrict­ing commission that would remove politics from the process and return power to the people.

We think that’s even more important after the November election.

“The narrative of ‘The elections are rigged’ made people say, ‘Are they rigged?’’’ Kuniholm said. “In the middle of that narrative, (Fair Districts PA said) ‘They are rigged, but not in the way you think.’”

Pennsylvan­ians can reclaim their power by supporting a bill, introduced in the Senate at the end of February, to establish an independen­t redistrict­ing commission.

To transfer redistrict­ing authority to a new citizens’ commission, state lawmakers must pass an identical bill in two consecutiv­e legislativ­e sessions — 2017-18 and 2018-19. The potential amendment must then pass in a public referendum in 2020 to take effect in time for the next district redraw.

In other words, that process has to start now if citizens are to have a greater say in the redistrict­ing after the next Census.

Unfortunat­ely — but not surprising­ly — there doesn’t seem to be any sense of urgency among local lawmakers to change the status quo. That would mean our representa­tives might have to vote against their own interests for the good of our democracy.

Pennsylvan­ia residents do have another option.

A panel of federal judges ruled 2-1 in favor of a constituti­onal challenge to Wisconsin’s district maps.

The challenge was based on a new mathematic­al standard to measure the extent of gerrymande­ring, dubbed the “efficiency gap model.”

It’s a model proponents say could be used to fight unfair redistrict­ing in Pennsylvan­ia.

We suggest our readers contact their representa­tives and urge them to support an independen­t redistrict­ing commission — and be ready to go to court if legislator­s ignore them.

Pennsylvan­ians can reclaim their power by supporting a bill, introduced in the Senate, to establish an independen­t redistrict­ing commission.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States