Objection to PA State Senate redistricting map
January 11, 2022 Dear Redistricting Committee: Redrawing the Pennsylvania state legislative districts in response to changes in the 2020 census, and to limit gerrymandering, is a huge task, indeed. However, upon close inspection of the redrawing of my district, the 16th PA senatorial district, I must object! The redistricting neither reflects the growth and urbanization in the southern part of the district nor respects the entity identifying as the Lehigh Valley. The new map cuts Allentown in pieces and separates it from the rest of Lehigh County, including the Coopersburg area/Upper Saucon where I live. To make up those population numbers, the map then adds rural areas far into Berks county—all the way to Hamburg and nearly to Reading (while conspicuously not including Kutztown). This wrecks havoc in Allentown and significantly flips the district from Democratic-leaning to Republican-leaning. To put disparate elements together to that end seems to me the definition of gerrymandering. Please reconsider. And redraw. Keep Allentown intact as the population center and hub of Lehigh County, and keep it with the rest of Lehigh County. Sincerely, Anne MK Schubert