Chadds Ford Township supervisors voted 3-0 Wednesday night in support of fair legislative districts in Pennsylvania. The vote came two weeks after the House State Government Committee gutted a measure calling for an independent citizens commission to oversee redistricting in an attempt to prevent gerrymandering.
The resolution says the residents of Chadds Ford and all of Pennsylvania “deserve a fair, fully transparent, impartial and depoliticized process…” for drawing the legislative boundaries of legislative districts for the U.S. House of Representatives.
It also acknowledges the state Supreme Court struck down a previous districting map that was “drawn in an excessively partisan manner” but did not address the process for redrawing district lines after each census taken every 10 years.
Supervisors said they support efforts — legislative and otherwise — to promote an independent process.
“Be it further resolved that we call upon those elected officials…to publicly announce their support of and commitment to work towards ensuring that legislative districts are drawn in a fair, non-partisan basis, to protect the rights of the citizens of Chadds Ford Township…”
The Pennsylvania Constitution calls for the legislature to draw district maps. Last year, two bills — SB22 and HB722 — were introduced that call for an amendment to the constitution establishing an independent redistricting commission.
Both bills called for an 11-member commission with four members of the state’s largest political party by registration, four others from the second largest party in the state, and three others who are not registered in either of those two larger parties.
State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Cranberry Township, who chairs the House State Government Committee, replaced the text calling the independent 11-member committee with another version of his choosing that calls for a commission of six legislators — three Republicans and three Democrats and no others.
The Senate bill has not been changed.
Other business
Supervisors will review during their May 2 meeting the final PRD application for Wonderland Farms, a two-part housing proposal calling for single homes and townhouses on both sides of Oakland Road. Outstanding documents were received on April 16. Unless the applicant grants an extension, the township has until May 16 to make a decision on whether to grant approval.
About Rich Schwartzman
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
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