Submit written comments to the LRC

You can provide your feedback on the LRC website. 

It's best to give specific feedback. For example: what did the old legislative maps do well? What did they get wrong? Check out this video from Fair Districts PA for a great example of how it's done. 

Another form of feedback, if you've drawn a map yourself, is what the experience taught you that will be useful for the LRC to know. For example:

• There are several baseline benchmarks that each map should meet. This includes a minimum compactness score and maximum number of splits. What other values did you emphasize and find important? 

• Draw the Lines demonstrates that the LRC should balance the constitutional criteria with the additional values that matter to Pennsylvanians. The chart below shows the approximate order that Pennsylvanians ranked criteria through a survey for the PA Redistricting Reform Commission, run by Penn State PoliSci professor Dr. Lee Ann Banaszak. DTL mappers have generally agreed, though they tend to rank minimizing jurisdictional splits lower than honoring communities of interest, competitive elections, and minority representation.

• The preliminary maps should be accompanied with a narrative/story explaining the choices and tradeoffs made in the map.
• The hearings on the preliminary maps need to be well thought-out and organized to collect useful feedback.
• Other hearings before producing the preliminary map should be reactions to the current map or citizen-proposed maps (like what Fair Districts PA just produced with their legislative mapping competition).

Draw the Lines is happy to help you craft any written comments. And if you've done a legislative map, the LRC is inviting you to upload it to their portal.

Draw the Lines mappers have unique qualifications to support the LRC's work. Make sure they hear from you!