Improvements to HD 87
I reside in East Pennsboro Township, Cumberland County, where I am a voter and a poll worker. I have lived and voted in Cumberland County for 29 years. It has been several years since I’ve actually been represented - or even listened to seriously - by my state legislators. I strongly believe this is a result of gerrymandering, which permits legislators in safe districts to ignore their constituents. Mine have become alarmingly conservative on a few issues (e.g., guns, abortion, masking “freedom” and election “fraud”) and completely reliant on their leadership for everything else. No final decision will be made without consulting the party leadership, despite what the voters want. As a result of this gerrymandering, critical and highly popular issues are never brought to the floor for a vote because a very small group of men control everything. These issues include (but are by no means limited to) K-12 education, minimum wage, climate change, common sense gun control, broadband access, gift bans and term limits. Pennsylvania needs to get things done - and it starts with redistricting that represents the citizens rather than protecting the incumbents. My specific recommendation is to combine East Pennsboro, Wormleysburg, Lemoyne, New Cumberland, Lower Allen and Camp Hill into one compact, contiguous and reasonably competitive state house district. This area is now cracked into three house districts, diluting our votes and our voice. Boroughs such as Lemoyne, Camp Hill, Enola, New Cumberland and Wormleysburg face similar problems: we have aging infrastructure, smaller businesses, a static income base, little room for expansion, and older schools. We are currently grouped with townships that are newer, rapidly expanding and have a growing tax base. The majority of my neighbors fall somewhere along the spectrum of “left” or “right”. In other words, we are far more moderate (or “purple”) than our polarized legislature. The more competitive a district is, the better it is for citizens because competitive districts can result in more moderate candidates who are responsive to their constituents and more willing to work with other Legislative members to get things done. Thank you for the opportunity to provide comment on this important initiative. This is the year to get redistricting done right! Not red, not blue, but fair.