Why we need to support redistricting reform

To the Times:

The Delaware County, Radnor and Central Delaware County Leagues of Women Voters urge readers to call or email your Pennsylvania House and Senate members asking them to support PA House Bill 22 and Senate 222, the Legislative and Congressional Redistricting Act.

This legislation, as currently written, is essential in preventing gerrymandering and ensuring a fair and transparent reapportionment process for congressional and state legislative districts based on the 2020 census results. H.B 22 and its identical Senate companion bill, S.B. 222, need to be voted out of their respective State Government Committees and enacted in the next few weeks before the Legislature breaks for the summer.

The League supports legislation to ensure the state Legislature performs the once-every-10-years reapportionment of districts in public (subject to the Open Public Meetings Act) and to draw districts that are:

• “Contiguous,” with minimal splitting of municipal and county lines between districts.

• “Compact” so that no grossly gerrymandered districts, such as Delaware County’s infamous “Mickey kicking Donald” Congressional District 7, are created.

• Evenly distributed by population (one person, one vote).

If enacted as written, the bills will protect against maps drawn solely to protect incumbents or political parties, or to disenfranchise minority voters.

This year, as in 2011, Pennsylvania will once again lose a congressional district due to loss of population. When that happened a decade ago, the Republican-controlled Legislature merged two districts held by Democrats. As a result, two incumbent Democrats were forced to run against one another, while the Republicans maintained their pre-existing seats. Statewide gerrymandering resulted in a 13-5 Republican advantage in Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation from 2012 to 2018.

The Pennsylvania League of Women Voters took the State Legislature to court over this blatant gerrymandering. In January 2018, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court struck down the congressional map and redrew it so that the current 18 districts are 9-9, Democratic to Republican. As a result, Delaware County is once again its own congressional district, with contiguous slivers of Philadelphia and Montgomery County.

All four of Delaware County’s state senators, Tim Kearny, John Kane, Amanda Cappelletti and Anthony Williams, and all but three of our county’s representatives are cosponsoring S. 222 to ensure that the reapportionment process is fair and transparent. Please contact them, identifying yourself as a constituent and thank them for sponsoring this bill.

In Delaware County, only Reps. Regina Young (610-522-2290), Joanna McClinton ((215-748-6712) and Margo Davidson (610-2597016) have not become cosponsors of H.B. 22. Rep. Davidson, the Democratic chair and ranking member of the House State Government Committee and Rep. McClinton serves on the Rules committee that will be establishing the rules for drawing the new district maps. Their votes are crucial to passage of H.S. 22. Contact information for the representatives can be found here or by searching online for Pennsylvania House of Representatives. You can find talking points about the bills at FairDistrictsPA.com.

Fair Districts PA is a project of the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania. For the past five years, we have worked, without success, to enact a constitutional amendment that would put an end to gerrymandering. Now we need a law, to make the reapportionment process fair and open for all Pennsylvania citizens[MOU1] . Now is the time to get involved in helping to make democracy work by making a phone call or writing an e-mail.