Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
Election redistricting has been a hot topic in Pennsylvania and across the nation.
On Friday, 60 students from Harry S. Truman High School in Bristol Township and 30 from Bensalem High School will team up for a day of activities around the process of redistricting.
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Students from Truman teacher Patricia Egan’s civics and government class will work with Bensalem High School teacher George Daka’s civics and government class. They will end up drawing their own draft election boundaries and enter them in a statewide contest hosted by civic engagement group Draw the Lines PA, an offshoot of Philadelphia-based good-government group Committee of 70.
“Draw the Lines is a project-based learning initiative that gives Pennsylvania’s students and voters the same kind of digital tools that the political pros have used to create heavily gerrymandered districts, so that they can demonstrate that they should have a say in how their own voting districts are drawn. Pennsylvania will be redrawing its congressional and state legislative boundaries in 2021, after receiving population data from the 2020 Census,” according to a press release.
The statewide contest is offering a $5,000 prize for the winning map.
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After submitting their map entry, students will be able to share their redistricting proposal with elected officials.
“Draw the Lines is thrilled to work with students at Truman High School and Bensalem High School,” said David Thornburgh, CEO of the Committee of 70. “Through this project, we’ve been telling thousands of students that they can indeed have a say in their democracy. Even high schoolers are proving that Pennsylvanians are ready, willing, and able to take the lead on redistricting in the commonwealth.”
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The students will be creating the maps on GIS software platform DistrictBuilder.
