NE PA Amendments to LRC Senate Preliminary Plan
View Map on Dave's Redistricting (https://davesredistricting.org/join/7e4a7705-b937-4637-b6ea-e77e9bd74ce2)
Although the Draft Senate Plan is mostly commendable, improvement is possible in the Northeast region. The proposed districts are not optimized for compactness or competitiveness, and Luzerne County is needlessly divided into four pieces. This regional amendment to the Preliminary Senate Map gains two points in compactness, four points in splitting, and three points in competitiveness, while better reflecting the affected communities. Proportionality, partisan bias rating and votes bias are unchanged. Seats bias rises slightly, probably because the increased competitiveness of SD22 in a 50-50 election is not fully offset by improved Democratic prospects in SD20 and SD40. Please note that further improvement of compactness is readily achievable by dividing several school districts in Luzerne and Carbon Counties, at the borders of SD29. I chose to keep these whole, as school districts are recognizable communities of interest. The affected districts are 20, 22, 23, 27, 29 and 40. Changes to each are described below. SD20: Cedes Susquehanna County and northern Lackawanna County; adds more of northern Luzerne County, including Wilkes-Barre and environs. The revised district is firmly anchored on Wilkes-Barre. SD22: Cedes its entire part of Luzerne County; adds Wayne County and the remaining, northern part of Lackawanna County. This change divides the SWB metro area, but enables reduction of county splits and makes each city the anchor of its own district. Most of Wayne County is closely bound to Scranton by Route 6 and I-84. SD23: Cedes Union County; adds Susquehanna County. The district becomes more compact, while remaining resolutely rural, with a clear economic and cultural identity. The change particularly reflects testimony from Susquehanna, SD27: Cedes its entire, western part of Luzerne County; gains Union County. This change removes a county split while preserving the all of the district's pertinent attributes. SD29: Cedes a school district in eastern Luzerne County; gains the western half of Carbon County. The district remains firmly anchored in Senator Argall's home county, Schuylkill, which is intact. SD40: Cedes the western part of Carbon County; gains the remaining, northern part of Pike County. The redrawn district more closely matches the Poconos community of interest, and unites at least one school district. Thank you for considering these changes, which are consistent with my testimony to the LRC on August 3rd.