There's literally a line down the street where one side's on one and the other
is on another district. The
16th District being here, and the seventh district here,
[inaudible] When I was running,
I would talk to the people and I would explain what I was running for.
And they would say, I don't even know if I can vote for you.
And I would literally have to pick up my phone and use an interactive map and go
into the area to find out where the line divided.
So I knew whether they were in district or out of district.
The reason this side was taken out of what was the seventh District was,
And so they literally drew a box around the borough and cut that part out so
that it was safe for the incumbent. You
look at the maps and you'll see that.
Both parties,
certainly more than willing to pick up the gerrymandering pen when it's
served them.
But more recently Republicans have been more guilty than Democrats.
Why
do politicians get to decide the districts?
I think that's why people feel frustrated today in our processes because It
feels rigged. It feels like a game because is.
So I spent a year of my life running for a race that just dissolved.
And I'm very happy for the people because our districts now are more cont
When
I first heard about gerrymandering,
I remember expecting a little bit better of the American democratic process
because.
So.
I've got these three maps that I've pulled up.
One of these is a democratic gerrymander.
One of these is a Republican gerrymander.
And one of them is a competitive map that has 14 toss-up districts. Yeah.
The scary thing is that even for me, like a random 17 year old,
just with the right software,
And if you're a member of Congress or the legislature who
has better software and has been doing this for longer,
they could probably pound these maps out in just a few minutes and draw
hundreds of gerrymander maps and just see which ones they liked the best.
And
people are able to do that because they have access to more powerful data and
technology.
There's an incentive in states like Texas and Georgia that are
Looking ahead to the round of redistricting And
particularly in the south where the Voting Rights Act has been weakened by the
Supreme court,
you still continue to have single party and where communities of color are
really growing very fast. And in those states, you know,
you're looking at the round of gerrymandering, unlike you've ever seen.
We.
Have a once in a lifetime opportunity to do everything we can to make
sure that those maps are drawn more fairly with more
engagement and input from our communities.
The core message that we want to bring to this process of redistricting is that
There
it is. We saved Allegheny county. What's it look like?
I hope this time around unlike other times is that it's a much more open
and transparent process so people can understand what's going on and
participate in the process.
One of the problems of gerrymandering is that
I.
Think map making is a really good way for people to become more active in their
own communities and become more active in determining the fate of their
community in terms of political representation..
[Inaudible].