The People’s Maps Submitted to the LRC
November 10, 2021

Fair Districts PA supporters and allies believe that electoral districts belong to all of us, and that all of us should have a say in how districts are drawn.

On November 10, the final People’s Maps were shared with the Legislative Reapportionment Commission. These maps are the product of countless rounds of review and revision, incorporating public testimony, input from feedback forms, and dozens of large and small community mapping conversations. The goal is to demonstrate that regular people can balance priorities, gather input and create maps that make sense and provide fair outcomes for ALL the people of Pennsylvania.

Some highlights:

- Far fewer divided counties and municipalities.
- Far better metrics on compactness.
- Six more minority/majority districts than the existing PA House map had when it was drawn in 2012.
- Many minority opportunity and influence districts in parts of the commonwealth where Black and Brown populations don’t meet levels needed for majority/minority districts.
- Inclusion of 8 Unity districts, created by PA Voice partners working with community organizations in Pittsburgh, York, Reading, Lancaster and Philadelphia.
- Attention to PA geography, including rivers, roads and ridges.
- Significant effort to keep school districts as intact as possible and avoid dividing college campuses.
- Partisan bias scores that predict majoritarian outcomes, allowing voters’ voices to be heard locally, but also on a statewide level.

No map is perfect. Given Pennsylvania’s geography and strangely shaped cities and counties, many districts don’t have smooth edges or fall into neat rectangular shapes. Many school districts, even some municipalities, cross county lines. Districts in populous areas will be geographically small, while those in more rural areas may cover multiple counties.

Every line is a decision and every district involves tradeoffs. Our goal was to meet median metrics for essential legal requirements (compactness, contiguity, minimal splits, minority representation, and lack of partisan bias), while incorporating LACRA safeguards and community input.

Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. ...

HARRISBURG — More than a year after Joe Biden won the presidency, Pennsylvania Republican lawmakers in the state Senate announced they had signed a contract with Iowa-based Envoy Sage to lead their investigation of the 2020 election.

The review will cost taxpayers $270,000 for a period of six months, but the contract can be extended, spokesperson Jason Thompson said Friday. Work can begin as soon as Senate Chief Clerk Donetta D’Innocenzo signs, a formality that will happen shortly, Mr. Thompson said.

Republicans are moving forward with the review despite an active court fight over its legality. State Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, and Senate Democrats have filed lawsuits seeking to block a GOP subpoena that demanded Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration turn over millions of voters’ data, including nonpublic information such as the last four digits of their Social Security number and driver’s license number.

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What do Democrats say?

“This is a bad faith action by the Senate Republican Caucus,” Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, D-Forest Hills, said in a statement. “They agreed to wait, and then went ahead with hiring their own firm to carry out this political, unnecessary and costly witch hunt. They’ve unilaterally and prematurely acted to spend more than $250,000 in taxpayer money for this.”

He noted that the contract was being signed the same week state Senate Pro Tempore Jake Corman, the highest-ranking member of the Senate, announced his campaign for governor. “This is not good government; it is bad politics,” Mr. Costa said.

Amid the spectacular ski slopes of the northern Utah mountains, U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly used political donations to pay for four visits to an exclusive resort known for its downhill events and picturesque views of the greater Rocky Mountains.

In all, the trips totaled nearly $52,000 at the St. Regis Deer Valley retreat, where balconies, sprawling sun decks and inground pools face snow-capped mountains and lush evergreens.

But Mr. Kelly did not limit his travel to just the five-star vacation spot during the 2020 election cycle . From the same pool of funds, he spent $19,000 at Georgia’s Sea Island where five miles of private beach line the small isle of upscale cottages and golf greens.

The GOP House member from the working-class area of Western Pennsylvania dipped into his leadership PAC — a pot of money that’s supposed to help political allies — and spent about $160,000 on airfare, trendy resorts and other expenses that are now the focus of an ethics complaint to a government panel that investigates lawmakers for misconduct.

Mr. Kelly is not alone in making controversial expenditures using the special pool of money that experts say has turned into a “slush fund” that allows candidates to spend without the traditional campaign limits.

The Campaign Legal Center, a Washington finance watchdog, filed complaints with the Office of Congressional Ethics against Mr. Kelly and two other representatives, Seth Moulton, D-Mass., and Gwen Moore, D-Wis., raising critical questions about whether the lawmakers abused their positions and violated ethics rules.