Opinion: Make your voice heard in congressional reapportionment
The next few months will determine your government representation for the next decade. The stakes are high. Make sure you pay attention and ensure your voice is heard in the redistricting process taking place this fall.
Every 10 years, the U.S. Constitution requires a count of all people living in the United States. That information gives elected leaders the data they need to decide how to fund schools, hospitals, housing, transportation and many other community needs.
But the decennial census is also important to ensure fair political representation. The count is used to determine state and federal legislative maps.
For years, many reformers have pushed for a nonpartisan, independent redistricting commission to redraw congressional maps. Some election experts, including me, have even recommended multi-member districts to counteract partisan influence.
These initiatives and others are worth pursuing. But the fact remains that this year, congressional districts will be decided as they always have — a bill needs to be introduced and approved by both state legislative chambers and then signed into law by the governor.
In September, I was one of six members named to Gov. Tom Wolf’s Pennsylvania Redistricting Advisory Council to ensure that the process is transparent and that any congressional redistricting plan adopted by the General Assembly is fair.
Our aim is to develop criteria for the governor to use to determine if a plan meets constitutional requirements and good government ideals like competitive elections and representation proportional to votes received. We will try to design a system that ensures that districts keep communities together and incentivizes legislators and prospective legislators to represent their constituents.
In Pennsylvania and across the country, there is a history of lawmakers drawing district in bizarre shapes to give their party the advantage.
Under the state’s 2011 map, Republicans held 13 seats to Democrat’s five, even while Democrats were winning majorities in statewide elections. With the Supreme Court’s ruling and intervention in 2018, Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation moved to an even split, with nine Republicans and nine Democrats, much closer to the statewide tallies.
Because of population changes documented in the most recent census, Pennsylvania will lose one congressional seat in the 2022 election cycle, dropping from 18 to 17 seats.
The diminished congressional delegation does have an upside though — the loss of a seat means that the existing map will have to be substantially redrawn and there will be another chance to get local voices involved in shaping the new one.
There are plenty of opportunities for people to get involved. The governor’s advisory panel will hold listening sessions across the state, with a stop in State College on Monday, Nov. 1. The governor also has his own website to collect public input about the new maps. Additionally, the House State Government Committee has a website where residents can submit community map suggestions.
Fair Districts PA and Draw the Lines are two non-partisan groups working tirelessly to make sure map drawing takes place in the open and holds the interests of voters foremost.
You don’t need to be a mapping expert to have an opinion. You know your community better than anyone trying to take a statewide view. Is your school district divided among legislators? Your watershed? If it matters to you, it probably matters for your district.
Mapmaking works a lot like democracy; if we have lots of voices contributing in their own small way, the result will be objectively far superior to anything that a single person could come up with. When voters are absent from the process, either from exclusion or apathy, the result will always disappoint.
The process is more open than ever this cycle, but if residents don’t speak up now, they will have to wait another 10 years to be heard.