LatinoJustice PRLDEF Testimony on Proposed Maps

LatinoJustice PRLDEF (“LatinoJustice”) submits this testimony to reiterate the importance of protecting the voting rights of the Latino electorate during the current redistricting process. A representative democracy demands that electoral districts are drawn in a manner that equitably represents demographic shifts within the state. We are concerned that the maps released by this Commission on December 16, 2021, further split or dilute the Latino vote in majority-Latino districts and communities. Redistricting cannot continue to serve as a tool to disenfranchise marginalized communities and prevent them from having meaningful access to the ballot. This Commission must take affirmative steps to ensure that the current redistricting cycle does not run counter to the protections offered by the Constitution and the Voting Rights Act as well as the essence of democracy guaranteed by the principle of “one person, one vote.” LatinoJustice PRLDEF, originally established as the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund (PRLDEF) in 1972, is one of the country’s leading nonprofit civil rights public interest law organizations. We work to advance, promote, and protect the legal rights of Latinos throughout the nation. Our work is focused on addressing systemic discrimination and ensuring equal access to justice in the advancement of voting rights, housing rights, educational equity, immigrant rights, language access rights, employment rights, workplace justice, and seeking to address all forms of discriminatory bias that adversely impact Latinos. As part of our ongoing work to protect the rights of Latino voters, we have advocated and litigated against practices that seek to dilute the vote of minority communities such as voter roll purges, failure to provide language assistance at poll sites, and redistricting practices that seek to dilute the voting power of communities of color. The Latino population in Pennsylvania remains the fastest growing ethnic group in the commonwealth. The Latino population grew approximately 82.6% between 2000 and 2010 and approximately 45.85% in the last decade. While many counties in Pennsylvania had a decrease in overall population, resulting in Pennsylvania’s loss of a congressional seat, the Latino population has continuously grown over the last twenty years and now represents about 8% of the state’s total population. In fact, out of the 72 municipalities in Pennsylvania, 37 saw the Latino population more than double between 2010 and 2020. Despite this continuous growth over the last two decades, representation at the state and federal electoral level remains almost non-existent. None of the United States congressional districts in Pennsylvania have a majority Latino population or Latino elected official. On a state legislative level, Latinos hold about 1% of 203 state house seats and no senatorial seats. In over 20 years of population growth, we have yet to see electoral districts drawn in a manner which will empower the Latino community to elect a candidate of their choice. If districts were drawn to accurately account for and reflect the Latino share of the population, Latinos would hold approximately 16 state house seats and 4 senatorial seats. The Latino community cannot stand by maps that will be in place for the next decade and still fail to accurately account for the extensive growth of the population in Pennsylvania. It is crucial that this redistricting process is equitable and transparent, because it will set the stage for political opportunity for a new set of Latino leaders at all levels of government. I. Lehigh County The City of Allentown is currently the third-largest majority-Latino city in Pennsylvania, after Reading and Hazelton. A total of 54% of the city’s population identifies as Latino. In its current configuration, the city is split into two state House Districts, 22 and 132. House District 22 currently has a 60.3% Latino population, of which 55.5% is of voting age. House District 132 is currently 44.1% Latino, of which 38.8% is of voting age. Between 2010 and 2020, the Latino population in Allentown grew 35.2%. As such, advocates expected that two districts in the city would have a majority-Latino population, particularly in the area covered by and near House District 132, where Latinos have a substantial share of the population. However, this Commission’s proposals unnecessarily split the Latino community into three House districts – 22, 132, and 134. In proposed District 22, the Latino population is diminished to 55.6% total Latino population and 50.8% voting age population, an overall 4.7% decrease in the eligible voter population. The Latino electorate in this proposed district would have to ensure an almost perfect voter turnout in order to have a decisive say in the choice of their state representative. Proposed House District 132 diminishes the Latino population to 21.3% of the total population and 18.3% of the voting age population. Proposed House District 134 takes over a large geographic portion of House District 22, including Latino communities, to create a new district that has a 43.5% Latino population and a 38.5% Latino voting age population. The splitting of the city of Allentown into three house districts would effectively cancel out the Latino growth in the city and further dilute the voting capacity of this electorate. This is unacceptable in a community that already faces obstacles to voting, including barriers to language access at poll sites. This Commission received testimony about the importance of maintaining the cohesion of the Latino community in Allentown and affording Latinos the opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice. Because Latinos are still not equitably represented on the state legislative level, this Commission should have sought to increase and not dilute the voting capacity of the Latino community. The Voting Rights Act requires the Commission to protect racial and ethnic minority groups from voting practices, including redistricting, which dilute or diminish their access to the franchise. II. Berks County In Berks County, Reading has the largest share of the Latino population in the state at approximately 69%. The area is currently divided into two House Districts, 126 and 127, with only one of those majority Latino. In House District 127, 68.2% of the population identifies as Latino, of which 63.5% is of voting age. Despite Latinos’ substantial share of the city’s population, it was not until the November 2020 elections that Reading was finally able to elect its first Latino representative to the State House for this district. In adjacent District 126, 43.8% of the population identifies as Latino, of which 37.8% is of voting age. The Commission’s proposed maps split this area’s significant Latino population into three House districts. First, House District 127’s Latino population is reduced to 57.2% of the total population, with a voting age population of 51.7%. This amounts to an 11.8% reduction in the voting age population for Latinos in Berks County. A reduction in the voting age population of Latinos will impede the ability of Latinos to elect a candidate of their choice. Representation matters, and the proposed configuration for House District 127 will further limit opportunities for Latinos to have meaningful and effective representation on the state legislative level. Given the significant Latino growth in Berks County, advocates expected an opportunity for the creation of a second majority-Latino House District. Community residents and advocates testified strongly in favor of maintaining community cohesion to ensure that Latinos have equitable representation in state government. However, the Commission’s proposed District 126 reduces the Latino population to 41.9% of the total population, of which 35.5% is of voting age. Proposed House District 129 has a 39.9% Latino population, of which 35.5% is of voting age. At a time when Latino representation in the state legislature is nowhere near proportional to the Latino population, this Commission must reassess decisions to create districts which further dilute the community’s electoral power. III. Conclusion The Commission’s current proposal for legislative maps ignores the growing Latino electorate and pushes them into districts where they are no longer a decisive voting bloc in choosing their representatives. If these maps are adopted, Latinos would lack meaningful access to the ballot for the next decade. As Pennsylvania’s demographic continuously changes, this Commission must draw electoral districts that protect voters over political figures, especially among racial and language minority groups. We call on this Commission to reassess and redraw the aforementioned districts in a manner that ensures Latinos will have opportunities to meaningfully participate in the franchise. Fulvia Vargas-De Leon Associate Counsel fvargasdeleon@latinojustice.org