PA House and Senate Maps Comment
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the maps developed by the Legislative Reapportionment Committee (LRC). After being saddled with some of the most gerrymandered maps in the country over the past 10+ years, it is refreshing to see maps that are much more reflective of our Commonwealth, which is evenly divided, politically speaking. Taking each map separately: The manipulation of the current House map, particularly over the past decade, has been frustrating and damaging. Gerrymandering breeds extremism. This map is much less distorted than maps of recent decades, and I am grateful to the LRC for taking on this once-in-a-decade opportunity to fix this serious problem. The proposed House map is more compact and splits fewer municipalities and counties, which are good outcomes, too. One comment on the proposed Senate, map, however: this map seems to go against the anti-gerrymandering principle of not protecting and entrenching existing incumbents. In a state with pretty evenly divided population, this map doesn’t do nearly as good a job as the proposed House map in reflecting our political environment. Furthermore, it dilutes the voting power of some of the fastest growing regions of PA and maintains voting power in regions that have lost population. This affects me and those of us who live in Southeastern PA since our districts contain population numbers that are far above the target, diluting our voice. I would like to see the LRC rebalance districts to create a more representative map, based on recent population growth.