Groen Part of Redistricting Lawsuit

Marcel Groen, chairman of the Montgomery County Democratic Committee, is part of the lawsuit filed by Montgomery County Commissioners Josh Shapiro and Leslie Richards, opposing the current state redistricting plan.  Here is his statement:

“As I stated in my testimony to the commission on May 2, the members of the commission had an opportunity to prevent a trip back to the Supreme Court,” Groen stated.  “Do Democrats in our county vote too often,” he questioned.  “Should Lower Merion, Upper Dublin, and Pottstown , for example, be fractured solely because they possess Democratic-majority voting populations?”  Additionally, Democratic-majority boroughs such as East Greenville, Pennsburg, are unnecessarily parsed out to a district representing three different counties, and Democratic-majority townships like Plymouth and West Norriton, suffer ward-division redistricting that is inexcusable.

The petitioners state that the June 8 maps released by the commission do not adhere to the Constitutional requirement that no county, borough, or township should be divided “unless absolutely necessary.”

“The divisions proffered by the commission are inexplicable, “ Groen argued, “ and detrimental to the voters of Montgomery County many of whom will be both confused about their representation given the number of split wards, and,” he continued, “underrepresented because most of the House and Senate districts as drawn do not serve majority Montgomery County populations.”

The June 8 maps show no improvement over the commission’s initial plan,” Groen declared, “and it is now clear the Supreme Court must create an independent panel to bring redistricting back to the drawing board, and provide fair and even representation with respect to the voters of Montgomery County.”