Nine people provided testimony Tuesday on redrawing congressional lines during the state House Government Committee's first congressional redistricting hearing.

The lines for Pennsylvania's congressional districts are redrawn after each decade's census is completed.

Pennsylvania will lose one congressional representative, moving from 18 to 17 statewide.

State Rep. Tim Bonner, R-8th, hosted the forum at the Pew Fine Arts Center at Grove City College.

While those providing testimony preregistered, about 30 voters attended the hearing to listen to testimony.

Written testimony on the redrawing of congressional lines can be submitted to the committee until Oct. 13.

Two Butler County commissioners, Kim Geyer and Kevin Boozel, testified Tuesday morning.

Each speaker was given 10 minutes to testify.

Both Geyer and Boozel pointed to Butler County's growth over many years.Geyer said while almost all neighboring counties saw a drop in population in the 2020 U.S. Census, Butler County has grown in every census since forming in 1800.She said in 1910, Pennsylvania had 36 congressional seats and has lost seats in each census since that time.Geyer lamented that although a 2018 Supreme Court decision mandated that all congressional districts be kept “compact and contiguous,” Butler County was broken into three congressional districts that year.She said in the 89 voting precincts in Butler County, six have more than one U.S. congressman.Four precincts in Cranberry Township have both U.S. Reps. Conor Lamb, D-17th, and Mike Kelly, R-16th. The two precincts in Jefferson Township are represented by both Kelly and U.S. Rep. Glenn “G.T.” Thompson, R-15th.“Two of the split precincts have fewer than 20 voters,” Geyer testified. “The Cranberry West 2 split has only 17 voters, and the Jefferson 1 split has only 18 voters.”

Because of these situations, Geyer said, the county elections bureau must design and print two ballots and sets of provisional ballots for each split.The election bureau also must go to the time and expense of separate poll books and reporting categories for each split precinct.“Each split precinct requires audit materials as well as poll worker education, poll worker training and voter education,” Geyer said. “There has been confusion as county officials have had to explain why one person could vote for one candidate while their neighbor three houses away had different candidates on their ballot.”She said the 15th and 16th congressional districts have worked well together because both representatives were of the same political party.“However, that is not to say that if you had two different congressional representatives and the dynamics were different, that would be the case,” Geyer said.She also pointed to the report written by the bipartisan Election Review Commission created by the commissioners after the chaotic 2020 general election.

Precincts consolidateGeyer said the report recommends that precincts with a continuous turnout of fewer than 100 voters consolidate with contiguous precincts to reduce the number of poll workers, equipment and resources required.The report also recommended adapting polling places to avoid multiple congressional districts within the same precinct in response to redistricting, Geyer said.She also asked the committee to seriously consider the points of view of voters who submit testimony and potential maps in the redistricting process.Boozel reminded the committee that Butler is the only county in the state with three congressional districts.He said the advantage to that unique status is the ability for county leaders to gain the attention of three independent voices regarding concerns and issues, provide specifics to the representatives regarding concerns of county residents in their areas and work on funding opportunities in three districts simultaneously.“Collectively, they are each aware of our county projects, and we have been pretty aggressive as one of the fastest growing counties in Pennsylvania,” Boozel said.

He said the challenge of having three districts is keeping voters informed of their districts, candidates and other factors.Boozel shared his concern on ensuring that county and precinct boundaries are not unnecessarily grouped by political affiliation.“This is about fair, equal and transparent elections, where the majority should win the majority of representatives,” Boozel said. “As these are not statewide votes and votes that represent a geographical population, it would be expected that both parties should hold the ability to vote their representative into office.”Michael Coulter, a professor of political science and humanities at Grove City College, recommended keeping municipalities and counties from being split between two congressional districts and having as many residents as possible in existing districts “within existing boundaries rather than wholesale changes.”

He said in the current 16th district, only Butler County is split. He said adding more of the county to the district would necessitate the least change while meeting population requirements.“It would also keep Butler County, as a community of interest, more together,” Coulter said.Bonner said he was satisfied with the hearing and the testimony given.“This is the most transparent process we've ever had in redistricting, so we are very excited about it,” Bonner said.He said some testifying advocated for having three representatives in Butler County, while others decried the situation.“That's what this is all about,” Bonner said, “gathering these comments as they go about redistricting.”