Legislators must release redistricting maps now
We’re running out of time for an open and transparent congressional redistricting process. We need legislators to make preliminary congressional redistricting maps public now.
Pennsylvania is one of only 11 states that hasn’t yet introduced draft maps. It’s time.
For the last decade, Pennsylvanians have dived enthusiastically into the redistricting process. They drew their own congressional maps, contacted their legislators, and talked with their friends and neighbors about the importance of fair, transparent and accountable redistricting.
In 2011, legislators introduced and passed congressional maps that the governor signed into law in eight days. The process kept the public and the media in the dark and created real harm to people’s confidence in our political process.
The maps that came out of the 2011 redistricting process used the Lehigh Valley to maximize partisan advantage at the expense of the region. The 2011 maps included a district that stretched from the New Jersey state line to the Harrisburg suburbs, including all of Allentown, but cutting out Easton and Bethlehem.
This effort made little sense in respect to regions or geographic boundaries and made it more difficult for areas such as the Lehigh Valley to have cohesive representation. This exercise was repeated across Pennsylvania, producing a congressional map that made little sense to the people of the commonwealth.
Eventually, the courts threw out the maps produced by this travesty of a process.
No one won in that effort. The public felt left out and the legislators lost the ability to draw the congressional redistricting maps.
We must do better this time.
According to deadlines provided by the Department of State, we have until Jan. 24 to enact new congressional maps to avoid the chaos and confusion of either a delayed primary or last-minute scramble, as candidates and voters try to figure out where they can run or for whom they can vote.
That means the Legislature needs to release congressional maps now.
If the Legislature releases maps now, the public can provide its thoughts before the Legislature begins to take action. The Legislature can have a transparent, two-way process where it gathers the best ideas from across the commonwealth and applie them to the new maps.
Pennsylvanians can be empowered and the Legislature can be responsive. It is a win for everyone.
But if the Legislature fails to release maps soon, we simply will not have enough time to engage in this effort, and we cannot afford another redistricting cycle that shuts out the people of Pennsylvania.
The good news for the Legislature is that the people of Pennsylvania have done much of the work. They have attended hearings and town halls.
Over the last 3 ½ years, more than 7,200 Pennsylvanians drew their own congressional maps through Draw The Lines PA, a project of the good government group the Committee of Seventy.
Draw the Lines PA used these maps to produce a Citizens’ Map that we delivered to the legislature in September.
These citizen mappers are from 40 of the commonwealth’s 67 counties, representing almost 90% of the population. The map drawers range from 13-year-old high school students to senior citizens.
The Citizens’ Map is fair. It harnessed the input of thousands of Pennsylvanians. Since we made this map available, even more Pennsylvanians have had the opportunity to provide input.
We are urging the Legislature to use the people’s work as a starting point. We are asking legislators to begin an open and transparent review process by making maps available to the public now.
The Legislature has made gestures toward transparency by providing public redistricting forums. Pennsylvanians used these forums to discuss the effect of redistricting on their communities.
Now we need our legislators to take the next step and release congressional maps. If they release maps now, there can be ample time for people to review, digest and provide feedback on the maps.
But if they wait, we will be subject to the same broken, disappointing process that will likely end up in the Supreme Court, a clear statement of failure.
We cannot afford a repeat of 2011, when legislators drew the maps behind closed doors. Let’s see the legislators’ congressional maps.
There’s still time to make Pennsylvania’s congressional redistricting process open, transparent and fair.