Wisconsin is a beautiful state on the western shore of Lake Michigan. Our state motto is “Forward” and we used to be known across the country for having good government. But in 2012 Wisconsin’s voting maps were drawn that favored one political party. It’s called partisan gerrymandering. It hurt everyone. And in 2022 the maps were made worse.
It’s time for fair voting maps. We are a group of everday citizens whose leadership is centered in Milwaukee’s North Shore. Working together and with others who share our goals, we can #EndGerrymandering.
You can learn our Purpose, Strategies, Tactics, and Ground Rules HERE.
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Every ten years the federal government takes a census of all the people living in the United States. In a process called redistricting, that data is used to draw new voting maps. Those maps decide the boundaries of Wisconsin’s Congressional, Assembly, and Senate districts. Once the maps are drawn, individuals who want to represent the people of a district can run for office. The Wisconsin Legislature is in charge of the maps. The Governor can veto them if he thinks they are not fair.
Voting maps should be fair. We live in a republic and are governed by representative democracy. That means that “We the People” are in charge of choosing who represents us in government. To make our representative democracy work, voting maps must reflect the communities people live in and what those communities care about. That makes it possible for elected officials – our representatives – to represent the people they serve. And it makes elected officials accountable to the people they serve. Representative government is good government.
We are a grassroots effort to #EndGerrymandering. We began as a Grassroots North Shore issues team, support the work of the nonpartisan Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition, and are independent of any other group. Just a bunch of citizen volunteers who want to save representative democracy.
We are ordinary citizen volunteers. Our co-leads are Deborah Patel (River Hills) and Cheryl Maranto (Glendale).
Most of us live in the Milwaukee North Shore area, which we think of generally as these municipalities: Shorewood, Whitefish Bay, Glendale, Fox Point, Bayside, River Hills, Brown Deer, and Mequon. We have members from adjacent areas, including parts of Ozaukee and Washington County, and folks who live in the City of Milwaukee. We are fussy when it comes to voting maps, but are not as fussy about where those who support our work come from. We are also happy to send folks to teams closer to their geographic location.
Our job is to educate people about gerrymandering. Fair voting maps advocates in Pennsylvania explain it in a fabulous two-minute video called “Gerrymandering by the Numbers.” Gerrymandering favors Republicans in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and other states. It favors Democrats in Maryland, Illinois, and other states. If you go to PlanScore you can see how unfair Wisconsin’s maps are. To get your bearings, you can also look at a handy Gerrymandering 101 handout. Attend one of our meetings. We promise you will learn something new.
People from all over the state tune into our monthly virtual meetings, which feature state and national speakers on topics related to gerrymandering. Our meetings are recorded and you can access them from our Events page.
We stand on common ground with people who disagree with us on some issues. Different people see the world through different political lenses. But on the question of gerrymandering, there is common ground. Survey and referendum results show that conservatives, progressives, and independents all want to #EndGerrymandering. That’s because voting maps relate to our basic system of governance. If voting maps are not fair they can destroy representative democracy. They can destroy our republic. In other words, partisan gerrymandering is a political but nonpartisan issue that hurts us all, regardless our personal partisan preferences. We must #EndGerrymandering.
2022 Addendum: When North Shore Fair Maps was founded, we never anticipated taking a partisan position on an election. But today the choice is clear: No matter one’s political persuasion, the only way to protect our freedoms and defend representative democracy right now is to vote for Democrats. We invite everyone, no matter what they look like, where they live, or what political party they are in, to join us in the fight for freedom and democracy.
To sum it up — We are bound together by a common belief that we must #EndGerrymandering. We are committed to acting on that belief. We are part of a much larger fair voting maps movement, in Wisconsin and beyond. We welcome all who share our belief and our commitment, regardless of political party or persuasion. Together we can #EndGerrymandering.
Thank you for visiting our website. If you want to join us, send an email to deborah.j.patel@gmail.com.