Earlier this week, the Pennsylvania Senate voted to pass a Congressional redistricting map. David Thornburgh, chair of Draw the Lines PA, had this to say:
“We are disappointed that the legislature failed to reach a bipartisan compromise and instead passed a Congressional redistricting map that showed no sign of bipartisan negotiations. This map is certain to lead to court challenges and a breakdown of the process.
As we showed with the Pennsylvania Citizens' Map, it is not only possible but now expected by voters to produce a balanced map.
After Pennsylvania citizens spent tens of thousands of hours identifying criteria, drawing maps, and reaching out to their legislators, it’s profoundly disheartening that Pennsylvania lawmakers could not follow their lead and negotiate a bipartisan map.
With the Commonwealth Court now likely to decide the map, Draw the Lines will be analyzing other submissions from petitioners on our website. Ultimately, we encourage the court to select the Citizens’ Map – the only map on the table that benefited from the insights of thousands of Pennsylvanians.
Draw the Lines’ redistricting effort has engaged thousands of Pennsylvanians since 2018. Draw the Lines has held town halls, seminars, in-person and online meetings, and hundreds of discussions with engaged individuals to learn about what Pennsylvanians want in a map. From these discussions, and maps drawn by more than 7,200 individuals, Draw the Lines developed a Citizens’ Map that is a composite of the input from these engaged Pennsylvanians.
The Draw the Lines Citizens' Map is the most collaborative, transparent, and scrutinized map available to the court. Its process modeled what our legislators should have done. The court would be well-served to take the input of thousands of Pennsylvanians and put the Citizens' Map in place.”