Pa. needs an independent redistricting panel

Last summer, in an astounding display of dysfunction and gridlock, our state legislators in Harrisburg failed to pass Redistricting Reform legislation. If our state Legislature continues to do nothing in the next session, our Congressional maps will be drawn and gerrymandered by the (presumably) Republican State Legislative majority while the Democratic majority on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court will allow the Democratic leadership to draw and gerrymander our state Senate and state House maps.

Both scenarios are completely antithetical to a representative democracy. To draw these maps, both parties will use software that can process voter records, voter registration data, voting results and marketing data to create surgically precise districts with almost guaranteed results. Republican maps will favor Republicans. Democratic maps will favor Democrats.

Creating an Independent Citizens Commission to draw our congressional and state legislative maps would favor citizens. While we can never take politics completely out of the process, an Independent Citizens Commission would remove the personal motive for gerrymandering and it would provide strong safeguards against partisan motivation. We need a state legislature that will pass legislation to ensure that voters pick their representatives, not the other way around.

Fair Districts PA has a page on their website at fairdistrictspa.com entitled, “Know Before You Vote.” While Fair Districts PA does not support or oppose any candidate, the website allows voters to research the positions of candidates in their district. The page includes voting records for incumbents and responses to a survey that was sent out to all candidates. The incumbent candidates in House Districts 26, 146 and 147 and in Senate District 24 have not responded to the survey. Their silence is deafening.

Redistricting Reform is not our favorite issue, but it is the one that must be tackled first. Incumbents and candidates of either party who don’t prioritize this issue will not earn our votes. We urge all readers to look at the “Know Before You Vote” page at https:// w w w.fairdistrictspa.com/ website to help make informed decisions.