Testimony for PA House District map
Respectfully submitted by: Sharon Forte 14 Woodbridge Drive Doylestown, PA 18901 House District #143 Proposed PA House District Map: https://davesredistricting.org/maps#viewmap::d7fd79fe-1682-4151-b829-87819574b37f My testimony: I realize there are multiple criteria for creating legislative district maps. These include equal population, compact and contiguously drawn districts, minority representation as needed, minimizing of county, municipal, and precinct district splits and partisan proportionality. All of the criteria are important and must be considered, but I believe that too often maps have been drawn without consideration for partisan proportionality. What I would like to see happen most is to have more districts maps that produce competitive elections where all candidates have a fair shot at winning an election. I realize that many counties and communities naturally favor one party strongly over the other, making competitive districts impossible. However, too often, districts are deliberately drawn to favor one party and that discourages voter turnout, even discourages good candidates from running and others make that nearly impossible. We know that this kind of gerrymandering happens in Pennsylvania and here in Bucks County. I live in House District 143. My research shows that in my current district map, there are 22,526 registered Republicans and 19,719 registered Democrats. (https://www.dos.pa.gov/VotingElections/OtherServicesEvents/VotingElectionStatistics/Pages/VotingEl ectionStatistics.aspx) This gives a 2,807 Republican voter advantage. I am proposing a new map that would still adhere to all essential criteria of meeting the equal population requirement and would also be much more competitive. In this map there are 18,951 Republicans and 19,199 Democrats in HD 143, making the difference just 248 between the two major parties. The district would also be more compact than the current district. Other districts in this map will have a similar advantage for Republicans. All districts are drawn to have close to 50/50 R/D proportionality and represent the voters in each respective district area accurately and fairly. When the PA Supreme Court ruled that PA’s Congressional map was gerrymandered in 2018 and drew its own Congressional map, the outcome of the next election produced amazingly balanced results, reflecting the close to 50:50, two-party makeup of the voting age population in Pennsylvania. Nine Republicans and nine Democrats won seats. Just to compare, the prior Congressional map had resulted in 15 Republicans and 3 Democrats being elected. Although this comparison is using Congressional districts and not Legislative districts, it exemplifies the point that a fair map allows for a more meaningful election. I’ll end my testimony with this question, “What is wrong with that?”