Gerrymandering and Pennsylvania's 18th District

Event Description

As the special election nears for the vacant seat in Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District, Mt. Lebanon Public Library and the non-partisan Fair Districts PA offer a special program tracing the history of the district’s shape, size and boundaries.

Fair Districts will present an educational discussion about how gerrymandering has altered the district’s boundaries and location, and its voter makeup.

Fair Districts volunteer speakers Anna Fisher and D. David Misra will present maps and data, and explain the causes and effects of gerrymandering in the context of the shifting makeup of the 18th District. Via a conversational presentation, they will also explain how bills proposed in the Pennsylvania legislature would end gerrymandering in favor of non-partisan mapping.

Dr. Fisher is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University and a resident of the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh. She was born in Ukraine, raised in Russia, and came to the United States in 1999 to study at the Ohio State University. She became a U.S. citizen in 2011. At Carnegie Mellon, she teaches research methods in psychology, and conducts research on cognitive development in early childhood. Dr. Fisher has volunteered as a speaker for Fair Districts for a year.

Mr. Misra, with master’s degrees in Public Policy and in Political Management from American University, Washington, D.C., is an adjunct professor in the Department of Social Sciences and Education at the Community College of Allegheny County. One of his political science seminar classes during the fall 2017 semester focused on the 18th District. He also is founder of Development Worx LLC, a consulting firm serving the non-profit, government and education sectors with communications, grant-writing and attendant strategic services. Mr. Misra has lived in the 18th District, in Upper St. Clair, since 2003.

Registration via this website:
http://www.eventkeeper.com/code/ekform.cfm?curOrg=MTLEB&curID=312240

Contact

Elaine Kramer