Missed Opportunity
The proposed Senate map does little to expand minority representation. Keep Allentown intact, please. The Philadelphia map desperately needs to create on additional majority minority district to afford proper representation. Despite a resolution providing for reallocation of prison data and despite significant population shifts from North Central to Southeast PA, overall representation in the proposed map would not shift or become more reflective of the PA population. Most districts that contain prisons now have population deviations - populations below the ideal senate size - even greater than their prison populations. All Pittsburgh districts and many districts in southwest and central PA are well below the ideal population, while districts in Philadelphia and other Southeast PA counties deviations far above that number. In effect, the map as drawn dilutes the voting power of our fastest growing regions and maintains voting power in regions that have lost population. I live in southeast Pennsylvania, and I strongly object to the map in my area due to its malapportionment and vote dilution caused by the inequitable distribution of population. The silence from PA senators with regard to the Senate map suggests that the proposed map protects incumbents well and does nothing to create a more balanced legislative chamber.