Group seeks to tackle Pa. gerrymandering
In an effort to combat what it calls “voter suppression” and change what it claims is a rigged election system, an advocacy group was recently in Pottstown looking to generate support.
Warren Cohn, a volunteer with the nonpartisan group Fair Districts PA, gave a presentation Sunday to a crowd of about 30 people at the Emmanuel Lutheran Church aimed at ending the process of gerrymandering in Pennsylvania. The group is trying to energize support for a proposed state constitutional amendment to reapportion and redistrict the commonwealth through an independent commission ahead of the 2020 United States census.
Under the current system, whichever party controls the state Legislature after a U.S. census is completed gets to draw political boundaries for state legislative seats and Congressional districts. Republicans got the opportunity to draw favorable boundaries after the 2010 census, much to the chagrin of Democrats.
The presentation in Pottstown was sponsored by the Mountain Movers of Chester and Montgomery Counties. The group plans to host a series of similar discussions on topics like health care, education, the environment, immigration and possibly full town hall meetings with elected officials.
“No matter what we do to combat voter suppression, it doesn’t really matter if the deck is stacked against us,” Cohn said on his reason to begin volunteering with Fair Districts PA.
He began the presentation by saying basic concepts of democracy like voters choose their legislators and every vote counts are in reality untrue in Pennsylvania. Because of heavily gerrymandered districts, legislators typically choose their voters through heavily manipulated district boundaries and many votes don’t really count.
Gerrymandering is the process ofmanipulating an electoral map for political advantage. Whichever political party holds power at the time an electoral map is redrawn decides how the map’s districts are shaped to its benefit.
Every 10 years, after the census is completed, the 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are reallocated or reapportioned to reflect populations shifts. Some states gain seats based on increased population, while other states lose seats.
Pennsylvania is currently losing population and will be redrawn after the next census, Cohn explained. After states are reapportioned, their district maps are redrawn. Redistricting refers to changing the boundaries of representative districts in a legislative body. Pennsylvania currently has 18 congressional districts, 203 state House districts and 50 state Senate districts.
Districts are required to have equal populations, be geographically compact and cannot unnecessarily divide existing geographical entities. You wouldn’t know it though based on how some of them are drawn. Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District, for example, currently held by U.S. Rep. Pat Meehan, has been described as one of the worst examples of political gerrymandering in the country after it was reshaped in 2013, Cohn said.
Some have nicknamed it the Bullwinkle district because of its misshaped resemblance to the cartoon character. Gerrymandering has also lead to the current situation where none of Montgomery County’s elected officials in Congress live inMontgomery County.
Gerrymandering, Cohn said, “undermines confidence in the system” because voters feel like their votes don’t really matter.
On top of that, the state is of interest to outside groups because of its lack of campaign finance laws. Pennsylvania has been given an F letter grade in a 2015 state integrity investigation, according to the Center for Public Integrity. Pennsylvania is a swing state and has 18 House seats. The state has no limits on Political Action Committee donations, lobbyist donations or funds raised by outside groups.
“There’s big money in politics and a lot of it is coming into Pennsylvania,” Cohn said. “Frankly, the more outside money that comes in, the less the local population and our votes really count.”
Cohn explained if nothing is done, the problem will only get worse. Legislative composition will not reflect voter composition. Elections will become less competitive. Many elec- tions will be decided during the primary, which tend to play to extremes. Congress and the state legislature will be less inclined to compromise and will become increasingly dysfunctional. Loyalty will be to outside priorities. Any legislators that try to buck the system will be the victims of aggressive attack ads and face a challenger with a wealthy backer in the primary election.
Because the next census begins April 1, 2020, the clock is ticking to eliminate the practice of gerrymandering so that Pennsylvania’s redistricting map can be fairly redrawn in late 2021 or early 2022. Fair Districts PA is committed to energizing support around a state constitutional amendment that would eliminate gerrymandering. Pennsylvania Senate Bill 22 creates an independent redistricting commission that would address the causes of unfairness and Fair Districts PA is looking to help it become law, he said. For full details on the plan or to volunteer with the group, visit https://www.fairdistrictspa.com/.