Fair Representation
According to the review of the proposed map of House Districts by Spotlightpa.org, the map meets all the criteria of the non-partisan Princeton Gerrymandering Project, and in several cases, the map exceeds the fairness criteria, as follows: COMPACTNESS: The proposed map scored average on compactness, but scored higher than the current map. CONTIGUITY: The proposed plan fulfills the goal that NO district has detached parts that are completely isolated. SPLIT MINIMIZATION: The proposed plan earned a Grade A on fewer split county, municipal, and voting precinct districts. POPULATION EQUALITY: The proposed map will be improved so that its overall rating of a still permissible 9.28% will achieve an improved overall rating. PARTISAN FAIRNESS: The Princeton Gerrymandering Project declared that the map had a "mixed partisan advantage.' While it is judged " more favorable to Democrats than geography alone, it had a slight Republican advantage..." COMPETITIVENESS: This is one area where the map fails. Only 14 % of the proposed districts are competitive, compared to the current status of 19% competitive. MINORITY REPRESENTATION: The proposed map creates 19 districts with minority populations that are greater than 35%, creating a meaningful voting bloc in comparison to the current map which has only 13 districts. While the current map is not perfect, it has so many improvements that it deserves support, and should have continued opportunities to make improvements. Mark Nordenberg deserves our appreciation for his leadership in this mission. He states his goals and principles as follows: "The main goal of the constitution is not to ensure that there is a fair fight between leaders of opposing parties every 10 years, but instead to facilitate what will be a good reapportionment result for the people of Pennsylvania."