Millions of words have been written and spoken about the need for true legislative redistricting reforms.

Polls show that more than two-thirds of Pennsylvanians are in favor of these changes, which would do away with the unsavory practice of gerrymandering.

Despite it all, the Pennsylvania General Assembly will once again ignore the will of the people, and it is likely that we will have more of the same for the next decade.

There was hope that this effort would be different this time. There was a well-organized mobilization by Fair Districts PA, which lobbied counties and municipalities - including many in our area - to support two bills which would have had a significant impact on correcting many of the redistricting inequities within the present system.

Carbon County commissioners and a number of municipalities in all five Times News counties sent letters of support to state legislators, but to no avail.

The two bills that would set these reforms into motion require a state constitutional amendment - passage by two consecutive sessions of the General Assembly and a favorable outcome from a referendum by voters. All of this would have needed completion by 2022 to affect the redistricting for the next decade after this year’s decennial census.

The problem is that the deadline to begin this process is Aug. 15, and our legislators will be on summer break until September, so, for all intents and purposes, these bills, which never made it out of committee, will die.

Let me explain what the terms “redistricting” and “gerrymandering” mean, especially since they are politically related. In our current political climate, it’s like love and marriage - you can’t have one without the other, as the old Frank Sinatra song goes.

After every decennial census, such as the one this year, legislative and congressional districts are realigned to reflect population shifts.

The number of legislators doesn’t change, so that means that areas with fewer people than in 2010 - the last time the census was conducted - will need to be included with adjoining areas to form an “ideal” district that satisfies the principle of ``one person, one vote.” In some cases, entire districts can be shifted from one part of the state to the other, as was the case with the 22nd District which was moved from Western Pennsylvania to the Allentown area.

An “ideal” district is the number that’s roughly derived by dividing the total population of Pennsylvania (12.63 million in 2010) by the number of legislators - 203 in the state House of Representatives and 50 in the state Senate. Currently, an ideal Pennsylvania House district is said to be about 62,500, while in the Senate it is about 254,000.

It’s up to a legislative commission to convene after each census to revise the districts to conform to the new population figures. So, once Pennsylvania’s official population is certified by the U.S. Census Bureau, this work can begin.

The criticism is that this commission leans toward the party in power; therefore, the districts are gerrymandered to reflect this partisanship. After the 2010 census, the Republicans, which have an overwhelming majority in both houses of the General Assembly, took control. Just for the record: Democrats did the same when they controlled the Legislature.

An equally important process must occur after the census to rearrange the state’s congressional districts. Pennsylvania has 18 members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Predictions are for that number to decrease to 17 after the 2020 numbers are in. The lost seat will likely go to a state whose population is growing much faster than ours. Florida, Texas and California are likely candidates.

The U.S. Senate is not affected, because each state, regardless of size, gets two senators, according to the U.S. Constitution.

After a contentious court battle in 2018, the state Supreme Court ruled that the congressional map drawn by legislators following the 2010 count was unconstitutional, and a new map was created that resulted in the election of nine Republicans and nine Democrats in 2018.

Two important things to keep in mind: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in June 2019 that federal courts lack jurisdiction to decide on political gerrymandering and left the redistricting process in the hands of the states.

Carol Kuniholm, chair of Fair Districts PA, calls Pennsylvania one of the most gerrymandered states in the nation. The organization’s goal is to create an 11-member commission in charge of both legislative and congressional redistricting. This would include four Republicans, four Democrats and three politically unaffiliated members. Many legislators paid lip service to the need for these changes, but when push came to shove, it came down to self-preservation. After all, if these reforms are instituted - as they should be - some of these legislators might not be around afterward.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com