Map your “Community of Interest”
Sign up at https://bit.ly/MapPlay. Want to learn more? Read on, courtesy of NSFM Mapping Team Lead Cheryl Maranto.
Are you tired of your legislator ignoring your wishes and concerns? Did you know that in the last 10 years, only 3 Wisconsin state legislative seats have changed parties? In 2020 18 of 99 state Assembly races were uncontested, as were 5 of the 16 Senate races. In 2016 over half of all state positions on the ballot had no challengers. In all of these races, candidates didn’t have to run a campaign or offer competing ideas. While self-sorting contributes to this, so do Wisconsin’s wildly gerrymandered maps. Cities of all sizes and most counties were purposely split to “pack and crack” those self-sorted communities even further in order to minimize district competitiveness and favor one party over the other.
Are you mad as hell and don’t want to take it anymore? Well there is something you can do! The Peoples’ Maps Commission (PMC), whose bipartisan members were selected by several retired judges, are going to submit proposed legislative maps to the legislature that ignore political considerations and focus on keeping communities of interest together. A community of interest is a geographic area in which residents share common interests and concerns that deserve consideration by their elected representatives. Gerrymandering experts agree that focusing on Communities of Interest will significantly increase the competitiveness of legislative districts and empower citizens to hold their elected representatives accountable.
This is where you come in. The PMC is soliciting citizens from across Wisconsin to map their Community of Interest and submit it to the Commission. Through the wonders of data science, your community of interest (COI) data, along with that of thousands of other Wisconsinites, will be used to determine consensus COIs that need to be kept together in our new maps. Please go to https://bit.ly/MapPlay to sign up for a one hour Zoom session in which we will facilitate a conversation with you and several other folks in your area and draw your Community of Interest map. One hour to help save democracy in Wisconsin. Please do it now.
Upcoming meetings:
7PM Monday June 14 – details coming soon.
Monday July 12 – an in person picnic, details to follow.
Learning Opportunities:
7PM CT WEDNESDAY May 26. Cap Times Talk: How will redistricting play out in Wisconsin? The Cap Times has assembled a panel of experts to discuss that question in a virtual forum from 7-8 pm on Wednesday, May 26. They will speak with Cap Times state government reporter Briana Reilly. THE PANELISTS: Sachin Chheda, director and co-founder of the Fair Elections Project; Moon Duchin, a mathematics professor at Tufts University who runs the MGGG Redistricting Lab; and Rick Esenberg, president and general counsel for the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty. HOW TO WATCH: Cap Times members will be able to watch and pose questions to the panelists in the Zoom webinar (members should check their email for the event invitation), but the forum also will be available via Facebook Live on the Cap Times page. https://www.facebook.com/CapTimes.
New Podcast series. The Gerrymandered State. Episode 1: The History of Gerrymandering in Wisconsin. Benjamin DePasquale talks with Matthew Rothschild, Executive Director of Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.
In the news:
The Bulwark: Lame Duck: The End of the Most Gerrymandered District in Ohio –
Ohio is losing a seat in Congress, but will it keep Jim Jordan? May 24, 2021.
State Bar of Wisconsin: Battle Maps: A History of Wisconsin Redistricting Law, Joseph Ranney, May 14,2021
Wisconsin Examiner: Fight for fair maps heats up: Legislators, advocates and a mathematician push for nonpartisan voting districts, Ruth Conniff, May 15, 2021
Ashland Daily Press: Wisconsin Supreme Court declines to adopt Republican-backed redistricting rules, Riley Vetterkind, May 15, 2021
Beloit Daily News: Justices reject redistricting lawsuit fast-tracking, Clint Wolf, May 16, 2021
Channel 3000: Fair Maps Coalition holds rally at State Capitol calling for non-partisan redistricting, Jaymes Langrehr, May 17, 2021
WPR: Advocates Rally At Capitol For Nonpartisan Redistricting Plan, Shawn Johnson, May 17, 2021
Iron Mountain Daily News: Wisconsin court won’t fast-track lawsuits over redistricting, Todd Richmond, May 17, 2021
WORT: Democrats, Republicans Gear Up For Redistricting Brawls, Jonah Chester, May 17, 2021
NBC15: Bill to create nonpartisan congressional maps reintroduced in Wisconsin legislature, May 17, 2021
WisEye: Livestream of Rally for Fair Maps, May 17,2021
Sheboygan Press: Sheboygan voting lines split the city along Superior Avenue when voting for state Assembly, Diana Dombrowski, May 17, 2021
Racine Journal Times: Gov. Evers expects Wisconsin’s election maps to be decided in court as GOP prepares for legal fight, Adam Rogan, May 17, 2021
WUWM: Wisconsin Democrats Renew Calls For Nonpartisan Redistricting Reform, Angelina Mosher Salazar, May 18, 2021
AP News: Wisconsin remains a priority state for redistricting, Scott Bauer, May 19, 2021
Public News Service: Renewed Push for Nonpartisan Redistricting in WI, Mike Meon, May 19, 2021
Bloomberg News: MapLab: Redistricting Rundown, Laura Bliss, May 20, 2021
Wisconsin State Journal: Robin Voss got slap on the hand he deserved, Editorial board, May 24, 2021.
Up North News / Associated Press: Unlike 2011, Gerrymandered Maps in Wisconsin Won’t Sneak Up on Voters, May 20, 2021.
And for fun (with purpose): Gerrymandering is like … really bad.