The last time I sat across from Alison Dagnes, a political science professor at Shippensburg University, it was the day after Donald Trump won the presidential election. 

We spoke about how the country was divided by the likes of race, class and age. Her advice to millennials for future elections was “Vote for their best interests,” as well as to have faith that Americans can mend the wounds of a torn nation.

“The country’s falling apart, but at least we aren’t,” Dagnes said. “We’ve really upped our style game.” 

Since then, Pennsylvania lawmakers have taken it upon themselves to bring about change regionally. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court voted to immediately have the states’ congressional map redrawn for the 2018 elections.

Nineties rock played faintly from Dagnes’ desktop as she researched the program the Pennsylvania GOP used for redistricting data after the 2010 census. She explained how the Republicans used sophisticated software to redraw districts.

“Pennsylvania was a target state, and in past elections they spent $1 million to gain a Republican majority statewide,” Dagnes said. “They used REDMAP to redraw the district lines around one street to include three more Republican households.”

Pennsylvania is a swing state, but ultimately leaned red with 44,000 votes to Donald Trump. The 13 out of 18 congressional districts were Republican,  compared to the Democrats’ five votes. The Pennsylvania GOP failed to meet the Feb. 9 deadline and have been forced to go back to the drawing board to make the state truly non-partisan. 

 Nationally, Democrats want to win back the House by taking 24 seats with a wave election of Democratic voters next fall. Dagnes said there is hope for 2018 with the implementation of a new and balanced congressional districts, but it will not completely flip the state Republican or Democrat. 

 “It won’t be much of a shock for the solids on either side…” Dagnes said. “Everybody’s numbers are going to shrink a bit but those that are solid Democrat and Republicans will still be safe.” 

Shippensburg is the 11th congressional district and was won by republicans in 2016. The district’s representative, Lou Barletta, will not be running in 2018 — instead, he will be running against Pennsylvania Democrat Bob Casey in the U.S. Senate race next fall. 

Pennsylvanian’s will have to wait and see how the GOP will legally redraw these districts in time for next fall and how they will affect future elections. Informational sessions are being held in communities to educate the public on the redistricting movement. 

A session was available at the Shippensburg Public Library on Monday to provide citizens a place to ask questions and become educated about their local government. 

“The great people of Pennsylvania said ‘…partisan gerrymandering in Pennsylvania is a violation of the state constitution,’” Dagnes said. “It absolutely denies people equal protection so they have to redraw it and NOW.”

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