Redistricting the State Senate
Every ten years state legislative lines are redrawn, the members of the Legislative Redistricting have very hard decisions to make when deciding boundaries for our bicameral legislature. However, I believe there are some rather easy decisions that can be made when redistricting the state senate. Senate district 15 currently covers Perry and Dauphin counties. One senate district can be fully sustained in Dauphin County, which would significantly better represent communities of interest around the state capital as well as better representing the partisanship of the county. The current version unnecessarily dilutes Democratic votes by adding Perry county even though under the 2010 Census a state senate district would have fit solely in Dauphin County, as it can today, and as was seen under the 2001 and 1991 maps, Additionally, while observing the adjusted population counts as decided by the LRC, it appears that Cumberland County nearly has enough people to sustain a state senate district. Because of this, it is entirely fair that a state senate district should be enacted including the entirety of Cumberland County, while possibly extending into neighboring counties to account for population deviations. Furthermore, Butler and Armstrong counties have an ideal combined population to sustain one senate district. This would perfectly represent COI interests, as both reside the Pittsburgh Metro Area and represent the exurban/rural northern area well in the metro. Although these facts and decisions may seem minor, they are easy decisions that should receive bipartisan support during the redistricting process.