Poll Shows Huge Support for Redistricting Reform among PA Voters

A new poll released last week by Franklin & Marshall College’s Center for Opinion Research shows that registered voters in PA are overwhelmingly in support of redistricting reform. What is redistricting reform? Currently voting districts are drawn by partisan lawmakers seeking to preserve party power and party incumbencies rather than focusing on the needs of voters.

Currently voting districts are decided by a small group of insiders: 2 party leaders from each major political party with a tie-breaker from the State Supreme Court. Fair Districts PA, a nonpartisan statewide group of volunteers, recommends an 11-member citizen commission composed of 4 Republicans, 4 Democrats and 3 unaffiliated voters willing to work in a nonpartisan way.

The commission is detailed in House Bills 22 & 23, both of which have well over 40% of legislators co-sponsoring. An exception in Chester County is our own Representative Hennessey, who is the last remaining legislator in Chester who has not endorsed these bills. The statewide poll just conducted indicates that 6-in-10 voters will make redistricting reform an election issue.

Fair Districts PA posted the full voter survey at FairDistrictsPA.com and welcomes volunteers willing to make democracy an action word. We have a limited time to make a difference this session and wish all voters to educate themselves about this issue & contact your legislator to have a talk about how they can best represent our issues,