LETTER: Against daunting odds, citizen panel aims for fair voting maps

To Ozaukee Press:

Born female in 1943, I know what it feels like to struggle to be heard, to have a voice and express my beliefs. In the U.S., it took 72 years for women’s demands for the right to vote to become reality in 1920.         

This is why all American women need a keen understanding of the great peril in the expanded practice of gerrymandering. Gerrymandering, now with the aid of sophisticated computers, can effectively map political and legislative districts to overpower the voting voices of those who do not agree with a domineering group’s power and policies. This is why governing is becoming more and more dysfunctional, and compromise is becoming a lost art.         

Every woman in America needs to know this, and every man who cares about a functional democracy needs to know and care about this too.

I am grateful I was able to attend the Sixth Congressional District People’s Maps Commission hearing via Zoom. The commission, appointed by Gov. Evers, is a diverse group made up of ordinary citizens from varying walks of life and political persuasions. Commission members’ sincere efforts to help mend dysfunctional government through fair redistricting maps, based on 2020 census data, give me hope. Their task in designing a fair mapping system is daunting, but their diligence and personal sacrifice involved in this extensive work is inspiring.

I have lost heart in attempting to contact my congressional district’s representatives, who have now appropriated our tax dollars toward future legal fees to fight whatever the People’s Maps Commission recommends as a fair redistricting policy. The best thing I can do now is to peacefully work to vote them out of office and pray that enough women and men who care about a functioning democracy will do the same.  
Marcia Kaminski
Grafton