Dividing Allentown
On several occasions, Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward has stated she has no problem splitting Allentown into more than one district since both Pittsburgh and Philadelphia have also been split. This is a specious argument since the population of Allentown is well under the number required for a Senate district while the populations of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia substantially exceed the target size and must be split into multiple districts. Could it be that the rationale for dividing Allentown is to dilute the votes of its Latino population? Allentown can (and should) be drawn into one district as both a community of interest and to give minority voters the best chance to elect their candidate of choice.