This voter approves of your NW PA House map
Dear Commission Members, Thank you for addressing the strange-shaped and unrepresentative districts we previously had in NWPA. I think, since we “lost” a seat to Eastern PA (in 2011?), we have had these long, thin, vertical districts. One stretched from Lake Erie to the bottom of Crawford County, and I believe another went all the way across four counties, along the state line from Lake Erie to Lawrence County. Those are not cohesive, or representative of counties. Back when those jokes were going around about a US district looking like “Goofy kicking Donald Duck,” I named my PA House district as “Goofy wearing Uncle Duck’s top hat,” with my Fairview Township as the hat. Proper mapping will result in PA legislatures that are closer to the 50/50 splits that we see in statewide elections. Current 60/40 splits show Republican favoritism from 2011, and I believe the press reports and third party reports (like from Princeton) that show your first 2022 maps as more fair. I see the proposed PA House district including Millcreek and Fairview townships as contiguous, made up of similar Suburbs, and closely balanced by registration to allow contested representation for citizens. Please keep your first draft maps. By third party measures, you did a fine job. Sincerely, Mark W.