Fair Districts PA, Lawmakers Call for Redistricting Reform at News Conference

Fair Districts PA was proud to join legislators on both sides of the aisle March 16 in advocating for redistricting reform in Pennsylvania.

Barry Kaufman, who serves as the executive director of Pennsylvania Common Cause, and who is also a co-chair of Fair Districts PA, was quoted in PennLive, saying:

Many of Pennsylvania’s government problems can be mitigated if we restore fair and competitive elections to an independent open and impartial redistricting process.

And three legislators—Sen. Lisa Boscola, Rep. David Parker, and Rep. Mary Jo Daley—seem to agree.

Parker and Boscola penned companion bills—House Bill 1835 and Senate Bill 484. The bills would amend the state constitution to change the redistricting process. Daley attended the press conference out of support of the legislation.

We highly recommend you read the entire news report, but we wanted to share just one more tidbit from the article regarding independent commissions:

They are calling for a system that is built around a cornerstone that would have an independent citizens commission handle the task in an open and impartial fashion that would respect political subdivisions and make districts as equal in population as possible.
Currently, the state constitution grants redistricting authority to a Legislative Reapportionment Commission comprising the House and Senate majority and minority leaders and an appointed fifth member who is often a legal expert.

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