Area residents received a primer in gerrymandering and grassroots organizing last weekend at a presentation held at the Zelienople Public Library.

The meeting room was packed with curious and concerned citizens looking to learn more about gerrymandering and the campaign to fight it.

Suzanne Broughton, a longtime activist with the League of Women Voters, gave the presentation.

“This is a nonpartisan issue,” Broughton said. “I don’t mean a bipartisan issue, I mean a nonpartisan issue because any party in power is going to do this if they can.”

The League of Women Voters formed Fair Districts PA, an official arm of the League, specifically to address this issue.

“Voters once we get gerrymandered very often don’t have a choice in the primary or the general election,” Broughton said.

This has caused many voters to register outside the two major parties, she said, with one seventh of all voters affiliating with either a third party or none at all.

“That’s a trend I think reflects poorly on the party leadership.”

Broughton came to the talk armed with a slide show showing how districts have changed over the years and highlighting what she considers to be especially egregious instances of gerrymandering in Pennsylvania.

One of the most infamous of these is Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District.

“The eastern Pennsylvania people have a nickname for that district: they call it goofy kicking Donald Duck,” Broughton said.

The disjointed district stretches across the eastern side of the state joined together by a small strip of land which acts as the kicking leg in the moniker. Gerrymandering opponents believe the strange shape exists to oppress political opponents.

“There’s all sorts of fancy diagrams you can use to show the concepts of ‘packing’ and ‘cracking,’” said Broughton, referring to the two most common ways to gerrymander a district.

Packing involves putting as many of your opponents in the same, safe district so that they cannot vote in more competitive races, making their votes redundant.

Cracking involves taking a block of voters in a region and splitting them up into different counties so they cannot vote as a group, making their votes essentially meaningless.

“It’s not new,” said Broughton. “In the last 15 years or so it has become a much more serious problem.”

The second half of the presentation focused on what people can do about it.

“ So what are we supporting?” Broughton asked. “Two bills: Senate Bill 22 and House Bill 722. They’re identical.”

The bills, introduced earlier this year, call for an amendment in the Pennsylvania State Constitution which would put redistricting in the hands of an independent commission comprised of individuals from a variety of political party allegiances.

Fair Districts PA is hoping to garner as much grass roots support as possible for the bills.

“So how can you help?” Broughton asked rhetorically. “You can contact your legislator.”

Broughton encouraged the crowd to call their legislators on the phone and also passed out postcards that can be sent to representatives and senators asking them to support the bills.

The bills enjoy sponsors from both major parties, including state Rep. Aaron Bernstine, and while representatives that don’t sponsor the bill may still vote for it, sponsorship of the bill does not necessarily guarantee an affirmative vote.

Fair Districts PA believes grassroot efforts are important to help the movement succeed.

“The last election generated a lot of interest in Washington and what’s going on. And some of that has knocked over into finding out what’s going on in Congress,” she said. “The first few presentations we had in Western Pennsylvania were packed, and this is pretty packed too. And we had to turn people away from one because we were violating the fire laws.”

With the 2020 census approaching, the next round of redistricting is drawing near. After that it would be another 10 years before the amendment would have any effect. “We got another year, I think, to get this to go,” Broughton said. “All you can do is do your best.”

After the presentation, attendees filtered out of the meeting room discussing what they had learned.

“The speaker was extremely informative,” said Larry Wingard, one of the attendees. “The issue is real important, more important than I really understood before the talk. It becomes very, very clear why nothing good or nothing, period, gets done.”

To learn more about Fair Districts PA or to contact a local chapter, visit www.fairdistrictspa.com.