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“Pennsylvania Redistricting in 2021: Will the Dreaded Gerrymander Re-Emerge from Its Lair?”

With Jack Nagel, University of Pennsylvania, Professor Emeritus of Political Science

March 25, 2021

Pennsylvania has experienced two dramatic redistricting reform efforts in the past few years: intervention by the state Supreme Court to establish a new Congressional map, and Fair Districts PA's valiant but unsuccessful attempt to take politics out of redistricting by amending the state Constitution.

Why are district lines so important in American politics? How are new districts decided in Pennsylvania (and elsewhere)? What is gerrymandering, how is it done, and what goals can it seek to achieve? How does political demography sometimes produce similar effects ('unintentional' or 'natural' gerrymandering)? How can gerrymandering be prevented?

As the Commonwealth embarks on a new round of mapmaking in 2021, the same old decision-making structures are still in place, but the distribution of power within them is very different than it was a decade ago. What sort of outcomes can we expect -- or hope for?

Dr. Jack Nagel studies democratic theory, voting systems, social choice, and political participation. He has explored those themes with empirical research on the United States, New Zealand, and Britain. He is author of “The Descriptive Analysis of Power,” “Participation,” and many papers, including articles in the American Political Science Review, British Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics and elsewhere. Nagel has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Essex, a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, an NSF grantee, and an IRIS Scholar.