November is “Government Reform Month" here at www.senatorleach.com. There are so many opportunities for us to change Pennsylvania for the better, but before we can begin we need to ensure that we have a healthy political system. Currently, several problems exist that must be fixed before Pennsylvanians can have full faith that their government is working well and working for them.
This week focuses on legislative redistricting and gerrymandering: problems which have been growing more out of control with each passing election.
Did you know that 400 of 435 Congressional seats are considered completely non-competitive? How about fewer than 10 of the 203 Pennsylvania House seats are considered truly competitive?
In Pennsylvania the re-election rate exceeds 98% in both bodies, and more than 90% of citizens live in districts where their votes, essentially, do not matter. Gerrymandering is a serious problem that needs to be addressed.
I have introduced Senate Bill 403, which would reduce the opportunity for gerrymandering and increase the possibility of once again having competitive elections in our Commonwealth. The bill would create a public commission to propose state and federal redistricting that would be subject to legislative, and possibly even judicial, scrutiny. Under the plan, all districts proposed by the commission must be compact and contiguous:
- The definition would include a “compactness measurement” – essentially marking the center of a district, drawing a circle around the mark, and requiring that the district fill in 15% of that circle.
- This would eliminate misshapen, unfairly designated districts.
The bottom line is that if redistricting reform does not occur, voters will no longer be choosing their legislators, the politicians who draw the district lines will. For more information on legislative redistricting and other government reform measures, please visit my Web site.
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