NRAF-Supported Pennsylvania Voters Ask State Supreme Court to Act Quickly to Ensure Fair Elections
Contact
Brooke Lillard • Lillard@redistrictingaction.org
Washington, D.C. — Today, voters supported by the National Redistricting Action Fund (NRAF) filed an Application for Extraordinary Relief to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court as part of the impasse lawsuit filed in the Commonwealth Court last week. The application asks the Supreme Court to exercise its discretion and assume jurisdiction of the NRAF’s impasse lawsuit so that it may be resolved quickly, ensuring that the 2022 electoral process can continue as scheduled.
“The Pennsylvania Supreme Court must take this case as soon as possible to provide Pennsylvanians a congressional map that assures their equal votes in time for the upcoming primary election” said Marina Jenkins, Director of Litigation and Policy for the NRAF. “Pennsylvania’s map is malapportioned and the state has lost a congressional seat – meaning that new districts are an absolute must – yet the Republican-led legislature ended the legislative year without completing this critical redistricting effort. Because of this failure and the urgency to produce a fair map in a timely manner, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court must now act to protect voters’ rights.”
Yesterday, the Commonwealth Court responded to the NRAF-supported suit by setting a litigation schedule that would not allow any time for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to review the case without delaying statutory deadlines for the 2022 elections. The Commonwealth Court’s litigation schedule underscores the need for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to grant the NRAF-supported Application for Extraordinary Relief in order to ensure the 2022 electoral process proceeds as originally scheduled under state law.
The Pennsylvania General Assembly has adjourned and will not reconvene again until January 2022 – making it impossible for Pennsylvania’s political branches to reach an agreement on a congressional map by the end of 2021, the time by which the Pennsylvania Department of State has stated it would need an enacted map in order to conduct the 2022 electoral process on time. The agency explained in court filings earlier this year that the end-of-year deadline was critical for it to provide timely notice to candidates and allow for proper implementation of the new congressional districts. In order to uphold the constitutional rights of voters and to ensure that the electoral process can continue without interruption or delay, the NRAF-supported petitioners propose that the Supreme Court resolve their claims and produce a new map by January 24, 2022.
To view the NRAF’s Application for Extraordinary Relief, click here.
About NRAF
The National Redistricting Action Fund (NRAF) is the 501(c)(4) affiliate of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee. The mission of the NRAF is to harness the power of people and the courts to dismantle unfair electoral maps and create a redistricting system based on democratic values. By helping to create more just and representative electoral districts across the country, we also hope to restore the public’s faith in a true representative democracy.
