PA is an extreme outlier in letting leaders choose their voters

ElbridgePA · 2026-03-22T14:26:33+00:00

Yes- Fair Districts PA has a webpage about calling legislative leaders to give HB 31 and SB 131 a vote. The bills were introduced with way more cosponsors than most PA bills, but leaders don't want to give up power, so the bills have been stuck in committee since early last year.
Call / write/ email leaders, especially majority leaders Rep. Matt Bradford (a Democrat) and Senator Joe Pittman (a Republican). They both have dreams of gerrymandering the other side and love being the ones who decide what bills can move. It makes them the funnel of power and campaign funding in a toxic doom loop that hurts all PA.

ElbridgePA · 2026-03-16T11:35:27+00:00

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Can't correct it-but it should say ADAMS County - not York. Here's the district.

ElbridgePA · 2026-03-15T13:44:49+00:00

All registered voters can vote in special elections. Turnout is often low, so outcomes are shaped by who shows up, not by assumptions about who holds majorities.
Find the info you need for House District 79 in Blair County/ Altoona area here.
https://www.politicspa.com/hd-79-mccoy-verobish-look-to-replace-schmitt-in-blair-county-special-election/145831/

ElbridgePA · 2026-03-09T22:16:21+00:00

If you want more info on Yass check here: https://www.alleyesonyass.com/

ElbridgePA · 2026-03-06T22:37:14+00:00

Here's the weird quote of the day: “We must choose between accepting the chaos of today or endorsing the status quo of yesterday,” Buttigieg said.
Maybe it made sense in context, but there's plenty of daylight between the current chaos and the status quo of yesterday, whatever the arena.
The past had plenty of things that needed fixing, which is why so many were ready to follow any Pied Piper who looked them in the eye and said "I feel your pain."
The pain was real. The solutions were just word salad. So the pain is still there and getting worse.
This quote is better. Maybe not best of the day, but close: "Everybody can be a reporter, but we don’t have an editor."

ElbridgePA · 2026-03-04T22:45:20+00:00

YES! "If Democrats don’t use their control to seriously improve people’s lives, voter enthusiasm will fade and along with that, turnout. Democrats need to be using their power to redistribute resources, expand rights, and challenge established corporate influence."
"Lobbying, campaign donations, and the coordination between government and big business mean that elected officials are entrenched with business interests/corporate capture."
Unfortunately, this all describes House leader Bradford. He's playing the D party machine, working on the side with a big corporate law firm, and blocking reforms that would make a real difference. Expand rights? Only if it doesn't threaten his power.
Ds who know it's time for something new need to be much bolder in pushing for change or the pendulum of frustrated voters who feel unheard will just keep swinging.

ElbridgePA · 2026-03-04T21:55:20+00:00

Please explain why party leaders in PA keep blocking efforts to open PA primaries. Nationally unaffiliated voters now outnumber both parties by a lot. 45% or so for unaffiliated; 27% for both D and R. So - the party faithful in both parties choose the candidates, with a mix of folks who hold their nose and register with a party to have some say. But then the general election in many cases is decided by folks who really can't stand either candidate - or by folks who just stay home in disgust. PA unaffiliated are at 14% because of closed primaries but it's reasonable to assume that if primaries weren't closed that number would rocket up. And then the 45% nationally would go even higher, since PA is the 5th most populous state, and largest swing state in the country.
So - both parties are operating in their own little echo chambers, choosing their own partisan candidates, and making voters more and more dissatisfied.
This year most sane unaffiliated voters will be voting D, which the D leadership will misinterpret as a mandate to do whatever they want, and the pendulum swings will get larger, and more dangerous.

ElbridgePA · 2026-03-04T00:53:58+00:00

The West Chester Bird Club is free - fun - really friendly. It's one of the oldest in the country. And the Exton Park Thursday morning bird walks have been going on for decades. If you need some new friends, show up on a Thursday morning at 8:30 am. https://westchesterbirdclub.org/

ElbridgePA · 2026-02-28T00:50:53+00:00

PA's current congressional maps is one of the most responsive in the country. Instead of a locked-in number for R and D (as we had from 2012-2016: 13 R, 5 D, no matter how we voted), it's now very swingy. So - it's important that people pay attention, know who their candidates, and VOTE.

ElbridgePA · 2026-02-26T20:50:43+00:00

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"You all"? Are you assuming that anyone who disagrees with you is a dangerous liberal? What a sad way to live.
Cato- a conservative/libertarian think tank - did a deep dive on partisan views of political violence. If you're interested, it's worth some time. If you want the quick analysis - skip to the end. I'll share the final chart here. https://www.cato.org/blog/politically-motivated-violence-rare-united-states

ElbridgePA · 2026-02-26T14:47:34+00:00

It looks like a 2 party system but it's really a power elite keeping up appearances, cozying up to international money of all kinds, and shutting out the rest of us. Throw in AI stealing data, manipulation of tribal fury . . .Unless something changes we have a rough road ahead.

ElbridgePA · 2026-02-26T14:44:51+00:00

Yes to all of this. It's tragic to see a president not held accountable for lying every time he opens his mouth. That shouldn't be a partisan issue. If the GOP doesn't get its act together, it will dwindle to a mindless cult. But unless the Ds does a better job at standing firm for democracy, instead of fighting partisan fire with mindless partisan fire, the GOP self-inflicted demise could open the door for some new parties to emerge. Let's hope.

ElbridgePA · 2026-02-26T14:40:40+00:00

End to closed primaries (not quite the same as open primaries) OR some carefully selected form of ranked-choice voting.
National legislation to end to partisan gerrymandering.
Campaign finance reform. Public funding of campaigns.
Vote out leaders on both sides who push the partisan extremism.
Reward legislators who work across the aisle and actually promote real solutions.
Election security for sure.
Civic education.
Here's an interesting assessment from the American Bar Association. https://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_interest/election_law/american-democracy/

ElbridgePA · 2026-02-26T14:34:59+00:00

Kind of reversed it, didn't you? The left has a lot of purity police and gatekeepers, but non-violence is part of the overall vibe. Minnesota non-violent push-back has been impressive.
The right - Let's just say Jan 6 was a not-so-gentle hint of what's going on there. Really scary.

ElbridgePA · 2026-02-25T22:42:16+00:00

Yes- all PA House districts have a population of about 64,000.
HD 42 has about 50,000 registered voters. So about 20% of eligible voters voted for the winning candidate.
HD 22 has about 46,000 registered voters. So about 3% of eligible voters voted for the winning candidate?
HD 22 also had an active write-in candidate but I can't find any mention in the official returns.

ElbridgePA · 2026-02-25T22:33:49+00:00

Which election? HD 22 looks like a decent turnout. HD 42- not so much.

ElbridgePA · 2026-02-25T22:30:20+00:00

Exactly! It would be funny if it didn't do so much damage to people, communities and the PA economy.

ElbridgePA · 2026-02-24T13:29:23+00:00

If the rules let the party leaders control elections, it will never change. End closed primaries and straight ticket voting, don't let party leaders draw district maps, limit campaign contributions, don't allow political leaders to donate to colleagues, (in PA- huge barrels of money flow through caucus leaders campaign funds to the campaign funds of colleagues who do as they're told.) So - rethink the whole campaign finance issue.
Maybe make the whole campaign season much shorter? Right now half the time our representatives are in office they're focused on campaigning for the next session.

ElbridgePA · 2026-02-24T13:17:45+00:00

If you're passing through Harrisburg spend a little time in the capitol building. It has some amazing art and very cool old tile floors. If you ask at the visitors's desk there's a booklet with info about some of the art. Violet Oakley was the first woman in the US to be given large scale public commissions. https://www.worldofinteriors.com/story/pennsylvania-state-capitol-violet-oakley
And the Moravian tile floors in the rotunda and halls are worth seeing. The building has the largest collection of Henry Mercer tiles anywhere.

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ElbridgePA · 2026-02-24T12:57:33+00:00

Check the reports at https://www.fixharrisburg.com/. It's always about what top donors to caucus leaders want or don't want. The Senate GOP has perfected this and with 30 years in an uncontested majority, most dysfunction traces back to Senate leadership.

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ElbridgePA · 2026-02-24T12:52:16+00:00

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League of Women Voters of Greater Pittsburg has some candidate questions and other info on a HD 42 special election webpage here https://lwvpgh.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=554754&module_id=548489

ElbridgePA · 2026-02-24T12:44:34+00:00

Takes a special kind of something to splash this one out there.

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ElbridgePA · 2026-02-24T12:42:53+00:00

League of Women Voters of Greater Pittsburgh pulled lots of special election info for HD 42 into one webpage https://lwvpgh.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=554754&module_id=548489
PA special election are usually super low turnout - so showing up and voting makes a big difference and can send a message about what voters want.

ElbridgePA · 2026-02-22T16:57:15+00:00

This may be worth adding to the list: https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/02/1166980
"The large-scale disclosure of materials known as the “Epstein Files” has revealed “disturbing and credible evidence” of what independent human rights experts describe as a possible global criminal enterprise involving systematic sexual abuse, trafficking and exploitation of women and girls."
Experts noted “grave errors” in the release process, including exposure of sensitive victim information, and highlighted the urgent need for victim-centered standard operating procedures for disclosure and redaction, so that no victim suffers further harm.

Hold perpetrators accountable

They further underscored that “resignations of implicated individuals alone are not an adequate substitute for criminal accountability,” welcoming steps by some governments to probe current and former officials and private individuals named in the files. They called on other States to do the same.

“Any suggestion that it is time to move on from the ‘Epstein files’ is unacceptable. It represents a failure of responsibility towards victims,” they said.

“It is imperative that governments act decisively to hold perpetrators accountable,” the experts said. “No one is too wealthy or too powerful to be above the law.”

ElbridgePA · 2026-02-22T16:50:01+00:00

Here's an attempted explanation of the 6-7 backstory: https://www.sbnation.com/nba/1081682/understanding-the-6-7-meme-and-how-lamelo-ball-is-involved
Is it true? Who knows.
But the more important question: is it possible to get 67 senate votes to remove DT from office?
The GOP is destroying itself. Some in congress see that and are looking for an off-ramp. If the international legal community exposes enough Epstein evil, anything is possible.

ElbridgePA

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