See How Severe Gerrymandering Would Impact Bucks County

With reporting by Justin Heinze, Patch Staff

Perhaps nowhere else in the country has gerrymandering, the process of redrawing electoral maps to favor a given party, had such an extreme impact as Pennsylvania. A recent New York Times study released this week explores that issue by presenting a series of visualizations on how much worse it could become, and what a fairly drawn map might look like.

Which solution becomes the reality for the 2018 election, and the 2020 election beyond that, depends on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which will determine this week whether or not the current map violates the state's constitution.

New York Times visualizations show how redrawing the 8th district — which includes Bucks County and is represented by Republican Brian Fitzpatrick — could swing it nearly 10 points to the Republicans.

The most absurd example of gerrymandering in Pennsylvania and perhaps the nation is the 7th congressional district, which was redrawn in 2013. The district is barely contiguous, meandering northern Montgomery County through Delaware County and into South Philadelphia before twisting out to cover swaths of Chester, Berks, and Lancaster counties.

It's currently represented by Republican U.S. Rep. Pat Meehan. It's one of the seats that would turn Democrat under the Times' "possible nonpartisan map," which shapes districts in a more even, county-centric manner.

The nonpartisan map shows seven Democratic districts versus 11 Republican districts, based on the results of the 2016 election. The current map is six Democrat and 12 Republican, while an even more extreme gerrymandering, which could be possible under Republican control in 2020, would leave the state with three Democratic and 15 Republican districts.

The current system benefits Republicans in Pennsylvania by "borrowing" heavily from Democratic strongholds in southeastern Pennsylvania and west-central Pennsylvania and looping them into Republican districts that are farther away from the blue centers of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

This dilutes the Democratic presence and allows Republicans to win key districts which they would otherwise lose.

Check out the full New York Times report and see the visualizations here.

Patch file photo