On Jan. 26, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejected the planned redistricting map. The reasoning behind the rejection has not yet been released. With the April primary and deadlines for candidates to get on the ballot approaching, many legislators are waiting with bated breath. Unfortunately, they may have a bit of a wait. Two of the justices who are on the Supreme Court have decided to go to Puerto Rico for a Pennsylvania Bar Association conference. The two missing justices are Chief Justice Castille and Justice Baer. The two will likely be in San Juan, Puerto Rico, until the end of the conference, which is scheduled to end on Jan. 29.
It is unlikely that any decision would have been completed and ready for release by the end of the weekend. Most likely, any uproar over the potential delay is uncalled for. However, that doesn’t mean that the justices have all the time in the world. The nomination petitions that people seeking public office must submit are due before February 16. As of now, the old districts are still in full effect. Some districts are being changed entirely which will lead to questions as to who is qualified for those districts.
The redistricting project is getting increasingly political as time goes on. Though redistricting is inherently political in nature, the changes were designed to give the current incumbent majority party, the Republicans, an advantage in the next election cycle. With the delays, and the possibility that the redistricting plan will not be in place in time for the next primary or election, there is hope for the minority party, the Democrats.
It is always possible that the problem was a little one, but given the amount of outrage that the public had shown over some of the district changes, it is also possible that the map will need to be entirely redrawn. The district that includes Harrisburg had been redrawn to exclude most of the city and in a random shape. There are other changes that individuals found odd as well.
The redistricting plan also did not appear to take into consideration that there are several special elections coming up in 2012. Though the seats would generally not be up for election in 2012, certain legislators have stepped down and left a vacancy. The special elections, assuming that a new redistricting plan will be approved before November, will take place in the new districts, no matter how far that district may have moved or shifted. It may lead to strange results.