Senate map could use some refinement
I live in Upper Dublin, a rectangle township that was gerrymandered after the last census and 2010 election to be split into 3 senate districts. My state senator, in the 7th district, is from Philadelphia, even though I live in an all-suburban district several townships away from the city. I am pleased to see that the proposed new LRC Senate maps puts me back in with my suburban neighbors (I would shift to the 12th district), though I still think the 7th district could be improved as shown on the proposed senate map submitted by Fair Districts. Overall, I believe the new Senate map could be improved: A) Keep together minority communities that have grown large enough to warrant their own seat. The current map splits up Latino populations in Allentown, Bethlehem and Philadelphia. A good map recognizes communities of interests and does not split them up to dilute their representation. There should be at least one Latino senator in our state. B) Fix the imbalance in population spread - the current map has western districts with underpopulation and the eastern districts with overpopulation - this imbalance keeps the status quo at the expense of voters who have moved to eastward and to urban districts. The new map should reflect what's happening not try to cement in place outdated lines. C) Ideally, fix the districts skewed by prison populations. Prisoners should be counted where they are from, not where they are in prison. Rural districts should not be made to look like they are less white by throwing in a few prisoners of color into the district. Why do the Senate districts with prisons in the proposed new map have fewer people in them than the ideal size? Seems like this could be improved. In general, this proposed map is slightly better than the one a decade ago, but not by much. PA's population is shifting (more urban, more people of color), and the new map ought to better reflect that shift than the one proposed, which seems devised primarily to keep incumbents in uncontested districts.