Council Redistricting

Understanding Redistricting

With the release of U.S. Census data on August 12, 2021, Philadelphia City Council had six months to redraw the boundaries for its ten district seats. According to the Census, the population of Philadelphia was a little over 1.6 million, meaning that there should be roughly 160,000 residents per district. But population equality isn't the only important factor. Many communities are well served by being kept whole within a district, having one elected official to represent them and attend to local issues.

Especially because redistricting has been rife with political abuse in the past, leading to crooked boundaries that fracture communities, it was essential that residents across the city can engage directly in the map-making process and City Council members to ensure public and community factors are prioritized in the next Council map.

Seventy and its partners were successful in minimizing the number of potential communities needlessly split by boundaries and convinced City Council to count prisoners in their home districts for the purposes of redistricting, the first time this practice has ever been followed.

The final map with revised figures counting some prisoners in their home districts was approved on February 10, 2023. This map will be used for the 2023 council elections and will go into full effect when new Council members take office in January 2024.

 Proposed Council Map Released

City Council introduced a mapping bill (Bill No. 220003) on Thur, Jan. 20 that will be used for elections in 2023, 2027 and 2031. Use this online version of the proposed map to see how it may affect your area or part of the city. There are several overarching concerns:

• Split communities: The proposed map isn't dramatically different from the current map, but numerous community splits identified in this Preliminary Report on Public Input and Priorities haven't been addressed while several new ones were created. Communities split by multiple districts may have more difficulty being heard by elected officials.
• Prison gerrymandering: The proposed map continues the practice of counting Philadelphians in city and state-prisons at the location of the prison instead of counting them at their home or last-known address. In the city, this shifts voting power from these people's home communities to the a
• A closed, rushed process: After nearly 90 organizations endorsed a Redistricting Roadmap of suggested steps to involve the public, this map was negotiated entirely behind closed doors and will be rushed to the finish line under the direction of Council President Darrell Clarke.

Community Engagement and Findings

A public outreach and engagement campaign from September to December 2021 culiminated in a Preliminary Report on Public Input and Priorities that included summary findings from 12 redistricting workshops, 12 community input meetings, and 150+ submissions to an online survey. Find resources from this campaign and anonymized survey responses in this folder. Recordings from the community meetings are below.

Seventy and its partners also distributed this resource toolkit to empower residents and communities across the city to engage in the process and influence the shape of the districts in which they'll be represented in City Hall.