Calling Pennsylvanians to help draw Fair District Maps
Maps drawn to acknowledge current districts and include cores of those districts in some way will be given preference so long as they meet other LACRA requirements. Total of ten $1,000 prizes in all: five in each category (203 house districts or 50 senate districts).
Winning maps will be used in community listening conversations throughout PA in preparation for final composite maps to be submitted to the Legislative Reapportionment Commission. While LACRA has not been enacted and has run out of time in the current legislative session, our goal is to show LACRA criteria in action and ask for maps that meet those criteria.
Any Pennsylvanian is welcome to submit one or more maps. Maps previously submitted to other contests are eligible as long as they meet LACRA criteria. Judges will include members of Fair Districts PA executive committee and national mapping advisors.
Deadline: Midnight, July 14
Essential criteria:
- Compact
- Contiguous
- Minority representation (maximum number of majority-minority districts OR districts that maximize minority votes)
- No county split more than numerically necessary +1 for senate districts and +2 for house districts.
- No split precincts.
Secondary criteria:
- Protection of communities of interest
- Respect for natural boundaries (rivers, ridges, highways, other major dividers)
- Responsiveness to voters (demonstrated through some level of both competitiveness and proportionality)
Platforms: Dave’s Redistricting App OR DistrictBuilder