Council members call for an end to gerrymandering

Phoenixville Borough Council adopted a resolution aimed at ending the practice of gerrymandering in Pennsylvania Tuesday night. With the 6-1 decision, the borough joins just over 50 other municipalities statewide in favor of the move.

Councilman Jon Ichter II dissented, while Councilman Jeremy Dalton was absent.

Wayne Braffman, of Kennett Square, representing the Chester County chapter of Fair Districts PA, a nonpartisan group committed to energizing support around a state constitutional amendment that would eliminate gerrymandering ahead of the 2020 census, gave a brief presentation explain- ing the resolution and what other municipalities have supported it.

“The resolution your considering endorses the concepts of fair and independent and nonpartisan redistricting reform,” he said.

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. Gerrymandering is the process of manipulating 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 cen- sus 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.

As of today there are seven municipalities in Chester County that have adopted the resolution, said Braffman, who also currently serves as a member of the Kennett Square Borough Council. They are Downington, East Marlborough, East Pikeland, Kennett Square, Kennett Township, Malvern and Pocopson. Twelve other municipalities, including Phoenixville, were scheduled to consider the resolution in June. Statewide 51 municipalities have approved the resolution.

Bills have been introduced in both the state Senate and House of Representatives.

“Fair Districts PA does not endorse any of those bills,” Braffman said. “Nor does the resolution that you’re considering endorse any particular bill. That’s an important distinction. We all know that as the bills go through the legislative process, anything can happen.”

Braffman said they would all wait to see what came out of committee before any official endorsement was given.

The current goal is for local municipalities to do two things: express support for this type of reform in the state and ask all elected legislators who represent their municipality at every level to also support this kind of reform.

Because the next census begins April 1, 2020, the clock is ticking to eliminate the practice of gerrymandering so that Penn- sylvania’s redistricting map can be fairly redrawn in late 2021 or early 2022. Fair Districts PA is committed to energizing sup- port around a state constitutional amendment that would eliminate gerrymandering. Pennsylvania Senate Bill 22 cre- ates an independent redistricting commission that would address the causes of unfairness and Fair Districts PA is looking to help it become law. For full details on the plan or to volunteer with the group, visit https://www.fairdistrictspa.com/.