A vote for State Supreme Court, a vote for fair elections
On April 4th, we citizens of Wisconsin have a chance to fix the problem of unfair election district maps. Unfair maps are gerrymandered voting districts that give one party an advantage over the other party. This is wrong, by either Democrats or Republicans.
For the past decade in Wisconsin, unfair voting districts have given Republicans unchallenged majorities in both houses of the legislature. WISCONSIN NOW HAS THE MOST GERRYMANDERED VOTING DISTRICTS IN THE NATION.
Wisconsin citizens overwhelmingly want fair voting districts. Voters in thirty-two counties passed non-binding referendums in favor of non-partisan redistricting. Fifty-five county boards and twenty-one municipalities throughout Wisconsin have passed resolutions requesting the legislature to provide for non-partisan redistricting.
Gerrymandering is a major problem. It creates a situation where state senators and assembly representatives don’t have to worry about what the public wants. After all, their re-elections are guaranteed. Why should they bother to respond to what their constituents want?
Last April, the conservative majority of the Wisconsin Supreme Court allowed the Republican legislature to install the most gerrymandered districts among several proposed by various entities, including citizen-submitted maps, in order to fulfill the required redistricting following the 2020 Census. This is their means for ensuring a dominant Republican legislature for another decade.
But this year on April 4th, there is an election for a new Wisconsin Supreme Court justice. We must elect a candidate who believes that fair maps and the voice of the people matter. My choice for a new justice is Milwaukee Judge Janet Protasiewicz, because for one thing, Judge Protasiewicz is an outspoken opponent of gerrymandering.
