Resolutions: Take Local Action for Statewide Change
When election maps are drawn by party leaders to protect their jobs and their party, voters and communities lose their voice.
Gerrymandering has diluted the representation of Pennsylvania municipalities and counties, allowing legislators to ignore local concerns while pursuing the agendas of outside special interests. School districts and communities are chopped up to provide safe districts for incumbents and to allow party leaders to maintain political control. The leaders who draw the lines benefit while voters, communities, and local economies are harmed.
What can be done?
Local resolutions help us take our democracy back
One way we are taking action is by presenting resolutions to municipal and county governing bodies and advocating for their passage. Resolutions are a consensus of opinion and recommended course of action voted on by municipal and county boards or councils. In this instance, the resolutions call for fair, transparent, and impartial redistricting done by an independent citizens commission.
From Erie to Bethlehem and from small boroughs to larger counties, citizens are demanding change. Fair Districts volunteers are flooding municipal meetings that they may never have attended before and engaging in their local communities. These volunteers educate and inform their local governments with presentations, data, and sometimes even petition signatures and email campaigns that support efforts to pass a resolution. This is true democracy in action!
These resolutions are giving a voice back to municipalities and counties silenced by gerrymandering. Each resolution calls for a copy to be sent to the respective elected officials and party leaders. This means that a legislator is held accountable to his or her constituents to pass Senate Bill 22 and House Bill 722 and put the redistricting power in the hands of an independent citizens commission.
Join the fight for fair districts
To date, nine counties and more than 60 municipalities have passed resolutions, and dozens more are in progress. We urge you to connect with your local Fair Districts PA group to join in this fight for redistricting reform.
If no resolution has been passed or is in progress in your own county or municipality, please learn more about the resolution process and fill out the “Get started with a local resolution” form. Our State Coordinator for Resolutions, Jamie Mogil, will get you going with guidelines and materials as well as connect you with other Fair Districts PA volunteers in your area.