Did you think Fair Maps were a settled issue? If you did you were mistaken. Here's the facts from Indivisible member Karen Wilson writing to the Peninsula Pulse.
Fairness is essential in sports and democracy. In both, those who love the game develop the rules over time. A team doesn’t get to write rules in its favor. Sometimes rules need to be updated.
District maps rule where people vote in Wisconsin. The Constitution says the Legislature draws the maps and the Governor approves them. It was reasonable to expect cooperation in fairly distributing voters.
But there is a loophole. When one party holds a strong majority in the Legislature, it can draw maps to win a majority of seats without the majority of votes (gerrymandering). If the Governor is of the other party it goes to court, with acrimony and ill-will all around.
We need to fix this. Door County citizens have an active interest in solving gerrymandering. Many voted for Wisconsin Supreme Court Justices who were part of the recent decision to select nonpartisan maps, not maps from the Republicans or the Democrats.
Now we have fair maps – but they are temporary! Districts are redrawn after every census. We need a permanent process. Other states have created nonpartisan commissions for redistricting. Now, a Wisconsin coalition of citizens and nonpartisan groups has developed plans for a Wisconsin Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC).
The Fair Maps Coalition will hold public meetings all summer to get ideas from as many citizens as possible. Then they will present the IRC proposal to the Legislature for approval (per the Constitution). The last step is a Constitutional Amendment to establish an IRC.
Help create good rules for a fair game! Attend the Fair Maps Coalition launch of the draft IRC in Green Bay on Wednesday, July 16, 5:30-7:30 pm at the Brown County Central Library.
Karen Wilson
Fish Creek, Wisconsin
Fairness is essential in sports and democracy. In both, those who love the game develop the rules over time. A team doesn’t get to write rules in its favor. Sometimes rules need to be updated.
District maps rule where people vote in Wisconsin. The Constitution says the Legislature draws the maps and the Governor approves them. It was reasonable to expect cooperation in fairly distributing voters.
But there is a loophole. When one party holds a strong majority in the Legislature, it can draw maps to win a majority of seats without the majority of votes (gerrymandering). If the Governor is of the other party it goes to court, with acrimony and ill-will all around.
We need to fix this. Door County citizens have an active interest in solving gerrymandering. Many voted for Wisconsin Supreme Court Justices who were part of the recent decision to select nonpartisan maps, not maps from the Republicans or the Democrats.
Now we have fair maps – but they are temporary! Districts are redrawn after every census. We need a permanent process. Other states have created nonpartisan commissions for redistricting. Now, a Wisconsin coalition of citizens and nonpartisan groups has developed plans for a Wisconsin Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC).
The Fair Maps Coalition will hold public meetings all summer to get ideas from as many citizens as possible. Then they will present the IRC proposal to the Legislature for approval (per the Constitution). The last step is a Constitutional Amendment to establish an IRC.
Help create good rules for a fair game! Attend the Fair Maps Coalition launch of the draft IRC in Green Bay on Wednesday, July 16, 5:30-7:30 pm at the Brown County Central Library.
Karen Wilson
Fish Creek, Wisconsin
This is not what Democracy Looks Like
This video was created by Kevin Welch of Indivisible Brown County (and Brown County Dems & TIC)
