LETTER: Voters will not stop saying it: We demand fair redistricting

To Ozaukee Press:

In Wisconsin, we value our freedom and each other. We want a say in how our tax dollars are spent. We want decent roads, hospitals, schools and fresh air and water. Wisconsin’s voting maps determine who represents us in Madison, and that affects every part of our lives. Voting maps matter.

Last Friday, Wisconsin residents participated in “Fair Courts End Gerrymandering” outdoor rallies across the entire state. In Ozaukee County, 75 voters braved the cold to rally in front of the Courthouse. We were shining light on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which is now considering which voting maps will govern us for the next decade.

We regret to say the court already made one bad choice. It has insisted that any proposed maps must look like the current maps, with the “least changes” necessary. A panel of federal judges ruled that our current maps were unconstitutional. The federal court said that no citizen of Wisconsin should have to endure another election under such partisan maps. Yet Wisconsin’s highest state court wants the new maps to look like the current unfair ones.

Soon the court will choose from the maps before it. Although none of the maps is good, the maps proposed by the Legislature are the worst of the bunch.

Wisconsin voters are speaking out. Earlier this month, 36 Republican, Democrat, and independent voters hailing from every senate district in the state filed a friend of the court brief urging the court to reject the Legislature’s proposed maps.

The people of Wisconsin keep saying they want independent, nonpartisan redistricting. We want fair maps. We won’t stop saying it until we get them.

Pay attention. Watch the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Demand fair courts and fair maps. We must and will hold our Legislature and our courts accountable. The future of our republic depends on it.

Ellie Hintz Anderson
Cedarburg
Deborah Patel
River Hills
Hintz Anderson is one of the voters who filed the amicus brief with the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Patel is co-lead of North Shore Fair Maps.