Redistricting Reform: The Journey Continues

Carol Kuniholm, chair and co-founder of Fair Districts PA and board member of the League of Women Voters of PA, will be the featured speaker on Tuesday, Feb. 19 at 7 PM at the Free Library of Northampton Township, 25 Upper Holland Road in Richboro. Redistricting Reform: The Journey Continues, a public presentation organized by the League of Women Voters of Bucks County (LWVBC), will give people the opportunity to learn what the legislative path forward in 2019 is for reform in Harrisburg. Partisan gerrymandering in PA will be addressed, as will progress toward the reforms advocated by Fair District PA and its coalition partners. The League of Women Voters in Pennsylvania has long recognized that both political parties, when in power, use gerrymandering to their advantage and has been working for redistricting reform since 1990. In addition to her work with both of these nonpartisan groups, Carol Kuniholm received a PhD in literature from the University of Pennsylvania, taught literature and writing at the college level, and worked for over a decade as a youth pastor. In the event on inclement weather, the presentation will be rescheduled to Tuesday, Feb. 26 at 7PM.

The tactics of a few in power in Harrisburg shut down reform and ensured the status quo during the last legislative session despite the tremendous support among both parties for legislation that would have transformed the redistricting process to one handled by an impartial, transparent, and accountable system. “For too long, policies supported by a majority of Pennsylvanians, common sense solutions that would benefit us all, have been blocked and stalled by special interests and partisan leaders,” said Kuniholm in December at a Fair Districts PA rally in Harrisburg.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court declared that Pennsylvania’s 2011 congressional district map violated the state constitution. After the 2020 census, Pennsylvania will draft and create new district maps. If the redistricting process isn’t changed, the 2021 map will likely be gerrymandered too.

Work to have legislation introduced by bipartisan sponsors during this legislative session is well underway. Attendees of Redistricting Reform: The Journey Continues will learn about this legislation as well as the ways they can become involved to foster a more accountable government, including how they can keep their legislators aware of the urgent need for redistricting reform. Said Kuniholm in December, “Together we will energize the democracy movement, insure fair elections and insist on legislative rules that give bipartisan solutions the hearings and a vote our founders intended.”

For more information, contact LWVBC at (215) 230-9986, email at LWVBucksPA@gmail.com or visit on the web at www.lwvbucks.org.