Erie County
With 270,876 persons Erie County is 3.5% in excess of the 261,645 standard for equal population for a senatorial district. However, no portion of the county should be severed from the whole solely in the name of equal representation. Any portion thus severed would have its senatorial interests subsumed by the interests of the several entire counties comprising the district to which it would be appended. However configured, this district will lean heavily Republican. The votes emanating from a small portion of Erie County will hardly matter. The electorate of Erie County is 48.3% Democratic, 37.8% Republican, 13.9% independent or otherwise affiliated. As recent elections have amply demonstrated, Erie County is a place of competitive contests. Thus, if the county was a stand-alone senatorial district, every voter in the county would matter to a senatorial candidate. I ask the commission to give this concern your articulated consideration.