Drawing Fair Districts

To determine if legislative districts are drawn fairly, you should look for certain criteria.  First, the districts should be equal in population.  The U.S. Supreme Court will allow some leeway on that, but anything over a five percent differential will be suspect.  The recently overturned gerrymandered congressional districts did pass the equal population test.

Second, the district must be contiguous.  That is, you can’t have a district that consists of two or three separate parcels.  The overturned districts were contiguous, but barely so.  In some cases the districts were connected by a store or a few houses.  They met the letter of the law, but not the spirit.

Third, the districts should not break up municipalities unless absolutely necessary.  In order to comply with the equal population mandate, it may be necessary to split come counties or even cities, but the splits should be reasonable and only applied when necessary.  The overturned districts broke apart many municipalities, obviously for political reasons.

Fourth, the district should unite common interests where possible.  For example, a district should not lump an urban area with an agricultural area.

Finally, in a state like Pennsylvania, if the districts are drawn fairly, most of the districts should be competitive, but some districts should be safe Republican while others should be safe Democratic.  Let say all the districts were very competitive, with every district containing 47% Republicans and 53% Democrats.  If the Democrats did really well in an election, they would win every seat.  That is not good for democracy.

In the map approved by the Pennsylvania Court, all of the criteria of a good redistricting are met.  The districts are equal in population, contiguous, break up a minimum of municipalities, and generally reflect common interests.  The fifth criterion is also met.  I count at least five safe Republican districts, five safe Democratic districts, and eight districts that could go either way.  

This map is amazingly good.  Both parties and the voters of Pennsylvania should be pleased.  Now what we need is a similar process for drawing the state legislative districts.  SB 22 or HB 722 both ensure fair state legislative  districts.  If they pass, Pennsylvania will become a model for the nation.