gerrymandering

Former Gov.’s son tours Pa. in VW van to raise redistricting awareness

BY: - April 5, 2021

David Thornburgh, president of the Philadelphia good government group Committee of Seventy, will be driving across the state in his freshly painted red, white and blue Volkswagen bus in the coming weeks to encourage people to engage in the once a decade redistricting process.

Redistricting, explained: What it is, how it works, and how Pa. politicians get to draw their own maps

BY: - March 14, 2021

It’s a year ending in one, so politicians across America are once again busting out their sharpies and spreadsheets to divide up voters in the once-a-decade redrawing of Pennsylvania’s congressional and legislative boundaries.

COMMENTARY

Our declaration of independence: Pa. wants redistricting reform. Lawmakers have failed to listen | Opinion

BY: - July 2, 2020

We have attempted every lawful avenue of request, petitioning our legislators in every way we know, All have been met with silence.

NAACP suing state for prison gerrymandering

BY: - February 29, 2020

They argue in their civil lawsuit, which was filed in Commonwealth Court on Thursday by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Ballard Spahr, that it’s illegal for Pennsylvania to count prisoners as residents of the counties where they are incarcerated rather than the county where they were living before they were incarcerated.

New report blames gerrymandering for stalled gun-safety bills

BY: - December 17, 2019

Most Pennsylvanians favor stricter gun laws, recent polling suggests, but efforts to advance gun safety legislation have languished in the Legislature.

In first hearing in 3 years, activists agree Pa. redistricting needs a fix. They disagree on how to get there

BY: - September 18, 2019

A standing-room-only session revealed differences over the fine details of a plan to draw non-partisan maps that everyone agrees are fair.

COMMENTARY

How (not) to take the politics out of redistricting | Editorial Cartoon

BY: - September 7, 2019

A Wolf administration's commission returned its recommendations to improve legislative and congressional redistricting. How much has changed?

COMMENTARY

Here’s what happens when political bubbles collide | Opinion

BY: - September 6, 2019

When the organization of a social network impacts political discussion on a large scale, the consequences can be enormous.

Appointees, not lawmakers, should draw Pennsylvania’s political districts, Wolf-convened panel recommends

BY: - August 30, 2019

Pennsylvania’s state legislative and congressional districts should be drawn by an 11-member commission of gubernatorial and General Assembly appointees — not by lawmakers — come 2021, a panel convened by Gov. Tom Wolf recommended Thursday.  The plan was crafted over six months with online and in-person input from more than 1,000 individuals, including those who […]

How Pa.’s Supreme Court moved left, and what it means for the GOP

BY: - August 9, 2019

(*Updated: This story was corrected at 11:50 a.m. to correct the spelling of David Senoff’s name.) It’s been nine years since Pennsylvania Democrats last controlled a chamber of the General Assembly. With Gov. Tom Wolf’s election in 2014, the party regained its grip over the executive branch. In his four years in office, Wolf has […]

COMMENTARY

SCOTUS gerrymandering decision a reminder that reformers can’t rely on courts to solve their problems | Opinion

BY: - July 26, 2019

Each state is different. Reform seekers in each state will have to pursue their reforms through the legislature or state constitution. There is no relief to be had in a federal court.

Capital-Star Q&A: PA-10 Democratic candidate Tom Brier talks climate change, DePasquale

BY: - July 11, 2019

The 27-year-old from Hershey has never run for office before. So he's going big out of the gate.