Pennsylvania Congressional Districts

[jimrtex]

If the PA supreme court's interpretation of what the right to suffrage means gains traction, then we need to start drawing gerrymanders again. Here is a nice pretty one for Massachusetts (the yellow CD is 4 CD's packed with Dems). Pity that we really get only one marginally Pub and one swing CD, and two that might flip in a big wave, but that is the best one can do to get to proportionality. 1.5 CD's is better than zero.

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Shouldn't each district have equal numbers of suffragants?

[Torie]

I didn't bother to draw the last four CD's, as I noted.

[jimrtex]

I didn't bother to draw the last four CD's, as I noted.

If a person does not have a right to vote, what right do they have to have an "equal" vote?

[Pennsylvania Deplorable]

I drew a map for PA based primarily on cultural unity and geographical compactness of the districts, with some regards to county lines. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to post images that aren't online URLs. Can somebody tell me how to?

[krazen1211]

Wrong.

The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.

That gives no guidance whatsoever about district maps.

Please describe what you believe the 'Manner' of holding elections is.

If you're going to apply vague wording in the US constitution, then you need to do the same for the PA constitution.  It's not apples to oranges here.

Nothing is vague about the word 'manner' in this context or any other. For instance, your political party's members in Congress have proposed requiring states to use certain commissions to draw Congressional district maps using the 'Manner' regulations power in this clause. Obviously the state legislature must have the same power to shape electoral districts.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

I drew a map for PA based primarily on cultural unity and geographical compactness of the districts, with some regards to county lines. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to post images that aren't online URLs. Can somebody tell me how to?

Upload it to the gallery, and then you can get a forum URL

[Pennsylvania Deplorable]

I drew a map for PA based primarily on cultural unity and geographical compactness of the districts, with some regards to county lines. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to post images that aren't online URLs. Can somebody tell me how to?

Upload it to the gallery, and then you can get a forum URL

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There was no partisan gerrymandering, however one district within Philadelphia was drawn to be 3/4 black.
5 districts would be solid D, 3 would be swing districts, 9 solid R, and 1 lean R.

[LimoLiberal]

I drew a map for PA based primarily on cultural unity and geographical compactness of the districts, with some regards to county lines. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to post images that aren't online URLs. Can somebody tell me how to?

Upload it to the gallery, and then you can get a forum URL

Thank you!



There was no partisan gerrymandering, however one district within Philadelphia was drawn to be 3/4 black.
5 districts would be solid D, 3 would be swing districts, 9 solid R, and 1 lean R.

You call for "cultural unity" but you put Scranton and Wilkes-Barre in different districts. This is a R gerrymander of NE PA.

[jimrtex]

This version links the city of Lancaster with Berks.





I really don't like this map, because of the arm west of the city of Lancaster from Chester and the arm linking down to Lancaster from Berks. You could go further north in the east, but that narrows the arm to one township wide, or you could impinge more on the city of Lancaster. And besides I could never get the population to work out.

[jimrtex]

There are two districts in Mongomery + Bucks, with part of Montgomery detached to balance population. This version shifts the Pottsville area to Buck. Pottsville is a separate urbanized area from Philadelphia. Though not the best area to add to Bucks, it may be the best area to detach from Montgomery.

(note this does not reflect a final decision on the Berks-Lancaster-Chester, it is just the last version drawn for that area).

[cvparty]

You could combine the southern parts of the counties for one district and the northern parts for the other. It makes a lot more sense demographically than a strict west-east county border

[jimrtex]

You could combine the southern parts of the counties for one district and the northern parts for the other. It makes a lot more sense demographically than a strict west-east county border

Unless you are deliberately trying to preserve county boundaries.

Once you start cutting counties, the SCOTUS is going to want extreme proof that the districts were as equal in population as practicable. Only by cutting counties in a very limited and absolute necessary manner can the state meet that burden.

See 'Karcher v Daggett' and 'Tennant v Jefferson County Commission'

[Pennsylvania Deplorable]

I drew a map for PA based primarily on cultural unity and geographical compactness of the districts, with some regards to county lines. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to post images that aren't online URLs. Can somebody tell me how to?

Upload it to the gallery, and then you can get a forum URL

Thank you!



There was no partisan gerrymandering, however one district within Philadelphia was drawn to be 3/4 black.
5 districts would be solid D, 3 would be swing districts, 9 solid R, and 1 lean R.

You call for "cultural unity" but you put Scranton and Wilkes-Barre in different districts. This is a R gerrymander of NE PA.

It really isn't. PA-17 as it exists today is a democrat vote sink that, even stretching down into the Lehigh Valley to steal Easton and splitting all but one of the countries it touches, is even PVI. I tried to put Luzern and Lackawanna counties together, but it would have forced the other NE PA district to stretch a ridiculous length, surrounding it on 3 sides. That is far more gerrymandered than letting a Republican area have two compact Republican districts.

Also, even with Wilkes Barre and Scranton together, the district would still have been at least R+4. Trying to keep a democrat district there would inevitably fail. Even the existing PA-17 went for Trump. It was one thing when Luzcerne County voted democrat, but now there's no way to make a fair D district up there now.

[Nyvin]

I drew a map for PA based primarily on cultural unity and geographical compactness of the districts, with some regards to county lines. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to post images that aren't online URLs. Can somebody tell me how to?

Upload it to the gallery, and then you can get a forum URL

Thank you!



There was no partisan gerrymandering, however one district within Philadelphia was drawn to be 3/4 black.
5 districts would be solid D, 3 would be swing districts, 9 solid R, and 1 lean R.

You call for "cultural unity" but you put Scranton and Wilkes-Barre in different districts. This is a R gerrymander of NE PA.

It really isn't. PA-17 as it exists today is a democrat vote sink that, even stretching down into the Lehigh Valley to steal Easton and splitting all but one of the countries it touches, is even PVI. I tried to put Luzern and Lackawanna counties together, but it would have forced the other NE PA district to stretch a ridiculous length, surrounding it on 3 sides. That is far more gerrymandered than letting a Republican area have two compact Republican districts.

Also, even with Wilkes Barre and Scranton together, the district would still have been at least R+4. Trying to keep a democrat district there would inevitably fail. Even the existing PA-17 went for Trump. It was one thing when Luzcerne County voted democrat, but now there's no way to make a fair D district up there now.

If it isn't a R gerrymander then why go out of the way to put the Dem parts of Monroe into the Luzerne district instead of with Scranton or PA-15?   The NE part of the map is certainly put together in a way that is very beneficial to Republicans.

[Pennsylvania Deplorable]

I drew a map for PA based primarily on cultural unity and geographical compactness of the districts, with some regards to county lines. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to post images that aren't online URLs. Can somebody tell me how to?

Upload it to the gallery, and then you can get a forum URL

Thank you!



There was no partisan gerrymandering, however one district within Philadelphia was drawn to be 3/4 black.
5 districts would be solid D, 3 would be swing districts, 9 solid R, and 1 lean R.

You call for "cultural unity" but you put Scranton and Wilkes-Barre in different districts. This is a R gerrymander of NE PA.

It really isn't. PA-17 as it exists today is a democrat vote sink that, even stretching down into the Lehigh Valley to steal Easton and splitting all but one of the countries it touches, is even PVI. I tried to put Luzern and Lackawanna counties together, but it would have forced the other NE PA district to stretch a ridiculous length, surrounding it on 3 sides. That is far more gerrymandered than letting a Republican area have two compact Republican districts.

Also, even with Wilkes Barre and Scranton together, the district would still have been at least R+4. Trying to keep a democrat district there would inevitably fail. Even the existing PA-17 went for Trump. It was one thing when Luzcerne County voted democrat, but now there's no way to make a fair D district up there now.

If it isn't a R gerrymander then why go out of the way to put the Dem parts of Monroe into the Luzerne district instead of with Scranton or PA-15?   The NE part of the map is certainly put together in a way that is very beneficial to Republicans.

I wouldn't put it in with the Lehigh Valley because, as I said before, I intended to keep the different cultures of NE and SE PA in different districts. I decided to split Monroe instead of Lackawanna because I would have to have split the city of Scranton, which would make no sense, or else the population of the Wilkes-Barre district would go far too high. The only way to put Scranton+Wilkes-Barre together logically would be to have a district running from Pottstown to the Delaware River then back over top of Scranton (which would be an actual gerrymander lol)

Drawing a democrat district in NE PA is like drawing a GOP district in NYC without Staten Island. Can it be done? Yes, but it would take more effort (ie gerrymandering) and be far more partisan to do so than to simply let all the districts in the area vote one way.

[Gass3268]

I drew a map for PA based primarily on cultural unity and geographical compactness of the districts, with some regards to county lines. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to post images that aren't online URLs. Can somebody tell me how to?

Upload it to the gallery, and then you can get a forum URL

Thank you!



There was no partisan gerrymandering, however one district within Philadelphia was drawn to be 3/4 black.
5 districts would be solid D, 3 would be swing districts, 9 solid R, and 1 lean R.

You call for "cultural unity" but you put Scranton and Wilkes-Barre in different districts. This is a R gerrymander of NE PA.

It really isn't. PA-17 as it exists today is a democrat vote sink that, even stretching down into the Lehigh Valley to steal Easton and splitting all but one of the countries it touches, is even PVI. I tried to put Luzern and Lackawanna counties together, but it would have forced the other NE PA district to stretch a ridiculous length, surrounding it on 3 sides. That is far more gerrymandered than letting a Republican area have two compact Republican districts.

Also, even with Wilkes Barre and Scranton together, the district would still have been at least R+4. Trying to keep a democrat district there would inevitably fail. Even the existing PA-17 went for Trump. It was one thing when Luzcerne County voted democrat, but now there's no way to make a fair D district up there now.

If it isn't a R gerrymander then why go out of the way to put the Dem parts of Monroe into the Luzerne district instead of with Scranton or PA-15?   The NE part of the map is certainly put together in a way that is very beneficial to Republicans.

I wouldn't put it in with the Lehigh Valley because, as I said before, I intended to keep the different cultures of NE and SE PA in different districts. I decided to split Monroe instead of Lackawanna because I would have to have split the city of Scranton, which would make no sense, or else the population of the Wilkes-Barre district would go far too high. The only way to put Scranton+Wilkes-Barre together logically would be to have a district running from Pottstown to the Delaware River then back over top of Scranton (which would be an actual gerrymander lol)

Drawing a democrat district in NE PA is like drawing a GOP district in NYC without Staten Island. Can it be done? Yes, but it would take more effort (ie gerrymandering) and be far more partisan to do so than to simply let all the districts in the area vote one way.

Lackawanna + Luzerne + Monroe = Exactly 1 district

[America Needs a 13-6 Progressive SCOTUS]

I drew a map for PA based primarily on cultural unity and geographical compactness of the districts, with some regards to county lines. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to post images that aren't online URLs. Can somebody tell me how to?

Upload it to the gallery, and then you can get a forum URL

Thank you!



There was no partisan gerrymandering, however one district within Philadelphia was drawn to be 3/4 black.
5 districts would be solid D, 3 would be swing districts, 9 solid R, and 1 lean R.

You call for "cultural unity" but you put Scranton and Wilkes-Barre in different districts. This is a R gerrymander of NE PA.

It really isn't. PA-17 as it exists today is a democrat vote sink that, even stretching down into the Lehigh Valley to steal Easton and splitting all but one of the countries it touches, is even PVI. I tried to put Luzern and Lackawanna counties together, but it would have forced the other NE PA district to stretch a ridiculous length, surrounding it on 3 sides. That is far more gerrymandered than letting a Republican area have two compact Republican districts.

Also, even with Wilkes Barre and Scranton together, the district would still have been at least R+4. Trying to keep a democrat district there would inevitably fail. Even the existing PA-17 went for Trump. It was one thing when Luzcerne County voted democrat, but now there's no way to make a fair D district up there now.

If it isn't a R gerrymander then why go out of the way to put the Dem parts of Monroe into the Luzerne district instead of with Scranton or PA-15?   The NE part of the map is certainly put together in a way that is very beneficial to Republicans.

I wouldn't put it in with the Lehigh Valley because, as I said before, I intended to keep the different cultures of NE and SE PA in different districts. I decided to split Monroe instead of Lackawanna because I would have to have split the city of Scranton, which would make no sense, or else the population of the Wilkes-Barre district would go far too high. The only way to put Scranton+Wilkes-Barre together logically would be to have a district running from Pottstown to the Delaware River then back over top of Scranton (which would be an actual gerrymander lol)

Drawing a democrat district in NE PA is like drawing a GOP district in NYC without Staten Island. Can it be done? Yes, but it would take more effort (ie gerrymandering) and be far more partisan to do so than to simply let all the districts in the area vote one way.

Lackawanna + Luzerne + Monroe = Exactly 1 district

About 400 something people short.

[Nyvin]

I drew a map for PA based primarily on cultural unity and geographical compactness of the districts, with some regards to county lines. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to post images that aren't online URLs. Can somebody tell me how to?

Upload it to the gallery, and then you can get a forum URL

Thank you!



There was no partisan gerrymandering, however one district within Philadelphia was drawn to be 3/4 black.
5 districts would be solid D, 3 would be swing districts, 9 solid R, and 1 lean R.

You call for "cultural unity" but you put Scranton and Wilkes-Barre in different districts. This is a R gerrymander of NE PA.

It really isn't. PA-17 as it exists today is a democrat vote sink that, even stretching down into the Lehigh Valley to steal Easton and splitting all but one of the countries it touches, is even PVI. I tried to put Luzern and Lackawanna counties together, but it would have forced the other NE PA district to stretch a ridiculous length, surrounding it on 3 sides. That is far more gerrymandered than letting a Republican area have two compact Republican districts.

Also, even with Wilkes Barre and Scranton together, the district would still have been at least R+4. Trying to keep a democrat district there would inevitably fail. Even the existing PA-17 went for Trump. It was one thing when Luzcerne County voted democrat, but now there's no way to make a fair D district up there now.

If it isn't a R gerrymander then why go out of the way to put the Dem parts of Monroe into the Luzerne district instead of with Scranton or PA-15?   The NE part of the map is certainly put together in a way that is very beneficial to Republicans.

I wouldn't put it in with the Lehigh Valley because, as I said before, I intended to keep the different cultures of NE and SE PA in different districts. I decided to split Monroe instead of Lackawanna because I would have to have split the city of Scranton, which would make no sense, or else the population of the Wilkes-Barre district would go far too high. The only way to put Scranton+Wilkes-Barre together logically would be to have a district running from Pottstown to the Delaware River then back over top of Scranton (which would be an actual gerrymander lol)

Drawing a democrat district in NE PA is like drawing a GOP district in NYC without Staten Island. Can it be done? Yes, but it would take more effort (ie gerrymandering) and be far more partisan to do so than to simply let all the districts in the area vote one way.

Lackawanna + Luzerne + Monroe = Exactly 1 district

All connected by interstate highways too.   Really almost too perfect to believe.

[jimrtex]

This is another version of placing towns along the Montgomery line





And this is a 4th version.

[Pennsylvania Deplorable]

I drew a map for PA based primarily on cultural unity and geographical compactness of the districts, with some regards to county lines. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to post images that aren't online URLs. Can somebody tell me how to?

Upload it to the gallery, and then you can get a forum URL

Thank you!



There was no partisan gerrymandering, however one district within Philadelphia was drawn to be 3/4 black.
5 districts would be solid D, 3 would be swing districts, 9 solid R, and 1 lean R.

You call for "cultural unity" but you put Scranton and Wilkes-Barre in different districts. This is a R gerrymander of NE PA.

It really isn't. PA-17 as it exists today is a democrat vote sink that, even stretching down into the Lehigh Valley to steal Easton and splitting all but one of the countries it touches, is even PVI. I tried to put Luzern and Lackawanna counties together, but it would have forced the other NE PA district to stretch a ridiculous length, surrounding it on 3 sides. That is far more gerrymandered than letting a Republican area have two compact Republican districts.

Also, even with Wilkes Barre and Scranton together, the district would still have been at least R+4. Trying to keep a democrat district there would inevitably fail. Even the existing PA-17 went for Trump. It was one thing when Luzcerne County voted democrat, but now there's no way to make a fair D district up there now.

If it isn't a R gerrymander then why go out of the way to put the Dem parts of Monroe into the Luzerne district instead of with Scranton or PA-15?   The NE part of the map is certainly put together in a way that is very beneficial to Republicans.

I wouldn't put it in with the Lehigh Valley because, as I said before, I intended to keep the different cultures of NE and SE PA in different districts. I decided to split Monroe instead of Lackawanna because I would have to have split the city of Scranton, which would make no sense, or else the population of the Wilkes-Barre district would go far too high. The only way to put Scranton+Wilkes-Barre together logically would be to have a district running from Pottstown to the Delaware River then back over top of Scranton (which would be an actual gerrymander lol)

Drawing a democrat district in NE PA is like drawing a GOP district in NYC without Staten Island. Can it be done? Yes, but it would take more effort (ie gerrymandering) and be far more partisan to do so than to simply let all the districts in the area vote one way.

Lackawanna + Luzerne + Monroe = Exactly 1 district

It does, but what happens to the other district then? The answer is it looks abhorrently gerrymandered, simultaneously surrounding the Scranton based district on 3/4 sides yet also having a part of itself (a corner of Carbon County) surrounded on 3 sides by the Scranton district. You cannot possibly argue that the result of this would be more compact or geographically logical. As a general rule, you want to limit the length of district borders. Again, this would be the exact opposite of following those rules of fair district making. I literally drew this district the first time I made the map and threw it out because it went so strongly against the entire idea of a gerrymandering free map. Here it is:

Edit: To answer your question about why I split Monroe the way I did, there were two reasons. 1) I wanted to at least keep the city of Stroudsburg together and 2) I'm very precise about population parity, making it impossible to lump Stroudsburg in with Scranton without going over.

[America Needs a 13-6 Progressive SCOTUS]

What about this:

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

I drew a map for PA based primarily on cultural unity and geographical compactness of the districts, with some regards to county lines. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to post images that aren't online URLs. Can somebody tell me how to?

Upload it to the gallery, and then you can get a forum URL

Thank you!



There was no partisan gerrymandering, however one district within Philadelphia was drawn to be 3/4 black.
5 districts would be solid D, 3 would be swing districts, 9 solid R, and 1 lean R.

You call for "cultural unity" but you put Scranton and Wilkes-Barre in different districts. This is a R gerrymander of NE PA.

It really isn't. PA-17 as it exists today is a democrat vote sink that, even stretching down into the Lehigh Valley to steal Easton and splitting all but one of the countries it touches, is even PVI. I tried to put Luzern and Lackawanna counties together, but it would have forced the other NE PA district to stretch a ridiculous length, surrounding it on 3 sides. That is far more gerrymandered than letting a Republican area have two compact Republican districts.

Also, even with Wilkes Barre and Scranton together, the district would still have been at least R+4. Trying to keep a democrat district there would inevitably fail. Even the existing PA-17 went for Trump. It was one thing when Luzcerne County voted democrat, but now there's no way to make a fair D district up there now.

If it isn't a R gerrymander then why go out of the way to put the Dem parts of Monroe into the Luzerne district instead of with Scranton or PA-15?   The NE part of the map is certainly put together in a way that is very beneficial to Republicans.

I wouldn't put it in with the Lehigh Valley because, as I said before, I intended to keep the different cultures of NE and SE PA in different districts. I decided to split Monroe instead of Lackawanna because I would have to have split the city of Scranton, which would make no sense, or else the population of the Wilkes-Barre district would go far too high. The only way to put Scranton+Wilkes-Barre together logically would be to have a district running from Pottstown to the Delaware River then back over top of Scranton (which would be an actual gerrymander lol)

Drawing a democrat district in NE PA is like drawing a GOP district in NYC without Staten Island. Can it be done? Yes, but it would take more effort (ie gerrymandering) and be far more partisan to do so than to simply let all the districts in the area vote one way.

Lackawanna + Luzerne + Monroe = Exactly 1 district

It does, but what happens to the other district then? The answer is it looks abhorrently gerrymandered, simultaneously surrounding the Scranton based district on 3/4 sides yet also having a part of itself (a corner of Carbon County) surrounded on 3 sides by the Scranton district. You cannot possibly argue that the result of this would be more compact or geographically logical. As a general rule, you want to limit the length of district borders. Again, this would be the exact opposite of following those rules of fair district making. I literally drew this district the first time I made the map and threw it out because it went so strongly against the entire idea of a gerrymandering free map. Here it is:

It looks better if you put Carbon county in with the Lehigh Valley.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

This is a less erose PA-11.

[Nyvin]

It does, but what happens to the other district then? The answer is it looks abhorrently gerrymandered, simultaneously surrounding the Scranton based district on 3/4 sides yet also having a part of itself (a corner of Carbon County) surrounded on 3 sides by the Scranton district. You cannot possibly argue that the result of this would be more compact or geographically logical. As a general rule, you want to limit the length of district borders. Again, this would be the exact opposite of following those rules of fair district making. I literally drew this district the first time I made the map and threw it out because it went so strongly against the entire idea of a gerrymandering free map. Here it is:

You can put Carbon County with PA-15 (like the legis's map), and Schuylkill doesn't need to go with PA-10 either.

[Gass3268]

I drew a map for PA based primarily on cultural unity and geographical compactness of the districts, with some regards to county lines. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to post images that aren't online URLs. Can somebody tell me how to?

Upload it to the gallery, and then you can get a forum URL

Thank you!



There was no partisan gerrymandering, however one district within Philadelphia was drawn to be 3/4 black.
5 districts would be solid D, 3 would be swing districts, 9 solid R, and 1 lean R.

You call for "cultural unity" but you put Scranton and Wilkes-Barre in different districts. This is a R gerrymander of NE PA.

It really isn't. PA-17 as it exists today is a democrat vote sink that, even stretching down into the Lehigh Valley to steal Easton and splitting all but one of the countries it touches, is even PVI. I tried to put Luzern and Lackawanna counties together, but it would have forced the other NE PA district to stretch a ridiculous length, surrounding it on 3 sides. That is far more gerrymandered than letting a Republican area have two compact Republican districts.

Also, even with Wilkes Barre and Scranton together, the district would still have been at least R+4. Trying to keep a democrat district there would inevitably fail. Even the existing PA-17 went for Trump. It was one thing when Luzcerne County voted democrat, but now there's no way to make a fair D district up there now.

If it isn't a R gerrymander then why go out of the way to put the Dem parts of Monroe into the Luzerne district instead of with Scranton or PA-15?   The NE part of the map is certainly put together in a way that is very beneficial to Republicans.

I wouldn't put it in with the Lehigh Valley because, as I said before, I intended to keep the different cultures of NE and SE PA in different districts. I decided to split Monroe instead of Lackawanna because I would have to have split the city of Scranton, which would make no sense, or else the population of the Wilkes-Barre district would go far too high. The only way to put Scranton+Wilkes-Barre together logically would be to have a district running from Pottstown to the Delaware River then back over top of Scranton (which would be an actual gerrymander lol)

Drawing a democrat district in NE PA is like drawing a GOP district in NYC without Staten Island. Can it be done? Yes, but it would take more effort (ie gerrymandering) and be far more partisan to do so than to simply let all the districts in the area vote one way.

Lackawanna + Luzerne + Monroe = Exactly 1 district

It does, but what happens to the other district then? The answer is it looks abhorrently gerrymandered, simultaneously surrounding the Scranton based district on 3/4 sides yet also having a part of itself (a corner of Carbon County) surrounded on 3 sides by the Scranton district. You cannot possibly argue that the result of this would be more compact or geographically logical. As a general rule, you want to limit the length of district borders. Again, this would be the exact opposite of following those rules of fair district making. I literally drew this district the first time I made the map and threw it out because it went so strongly against the entire idea of a gerrymandering free map. Here it is:

Tim Turner's map is good, but I also like this one:

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=282416.msg6044777#msg6044777