Take Action – May 12, 2021

Time to act…..

Sign up for Map Play! 

Do it now. Go to https://bit.ly/MapPlay. Sign up for Map Play and draw your community of interest map. Do it because it’s fun. Do it for the People’s Maps Commission. Do it so your personal interests and values will be reflected in Wisconsin’s new Voting Maps. Just do it. Learn more about mapping communities of interest at http://bit.ly/MappingCOI. If you sign up and are out of our area we will redirect you. https://bit.ly/MapPlay.

Attend a Rally in Madison @12noon Monday May 17

A “rain or shine” rally for fair maps is set @12noon Monday, May 17, on the State Street side of the Wisconsin State Capital in Madison. Attend if you can.

Want a ride? Want to give a ride? Carpool! Meet up at the Kohl’s EAST parking lot (the lot nearest the Whitefish Bay Post Office — SEE MAP) Monday at 9:45AM sharp. Cars will depart at 10AM. Whoever shows up will determine who will drive and who will ride. Each car group can determine the food situation — to stop or not to stop afterwards for a sandwich or whatever. Dress for the weather. Got a sign or can make a sign? Bring it! Read and share flyer. For more details go to (and share) the Facebook Event. 

It’s spring – time to plant a yard sign!

Go to https://bit.ly/WantYardSign. Note: We are arranging pick up locations in Milwaukee County’s North Shore area, parts of Ozaukee County, and Germantown. If you do not live in those areas, individual signs and other Fair Maps swag can be purchased through https://www.fairmapswi.com/.

May 10 meeting recap — “Across the Divide”

Thank you! More than 70 folks participated in our monthly virtual meeting Monday night. More wanted to attend but had conflicts. No worries! Everyone can now WATCH/SHARE THE VIDEO and SEE/SHARE THE EVENT SLIDES. The program got great reviews, and the slides are packed with hyperlinks to additional information. A final slide was added, capturing the links put in the chat box during the meeting.

There was a lot of learning in the zoom room. We learned that partisan gerrymandering affects us all, no matter our political party. We heard testimonials from Beth Bauer, Lena Eng, and David Faust, Wisconsinites who told us why they were working across the political divide to #EndGerrymandering. Milwaukee school teacher Benjamin Rangel, who represents the 4th CD on the Wisconsin People’s Maps Commission, provided an update on the Commission’s work, including the charge given its citizen members through Governor Tony Evers’ Executive Order. Rangel explained the PMC’s criteria for the maps it is creating. NSFM map team lead Cheryl Maranto encouraged us to be part of the new maps’ DNA by signing up for Map Play.

Our final and very special guest was Walter Olson, Cato Institute Senior Fellow and the Republican Co-Chair of the Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission. Wisconsin was gerrymandered by Republicans. Maryland was gerrymandered by Democrats. No matter who does it, it’s wrong. In both states the vast majority of citizens want to #EndGerrymandering. Wisconsin’s Democratic Governor Tony Evers is determined to have fair maps. So is Maryland’s Republican Governor Larry Hogan. And just like folks in Wisconsin, the good people of Maryland have been working hard for Redistricting Reform for years.  

Working together we can #EndGerrymandering. We are ready in Wisconsin. Across the state, counties and municipalities have told the Legislature they want nonpartisan maps. Wherever a referendum could get on the ballot, it passed with overwhelming support. (In January 2020, a valiant effort to get a referendum on the ballot failed in Ozaukee County, just north of Milwaukee County’s North Shore community, and home to some of our NSFM members.) The Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition has organized citizens in every corner of the state (including our corner :-). New legislation calling for nonpartisan maps is on the way. If the Legislature draws unfair maps, Governor Evers can veto those maps. The People’s Maps are being drawn. The People’s Maps will be available to the Wisconsin Legislature. They may also be used to compare maps drawn by a nonpartisan commission to the maps being drawn by the Legislature. And if/when this ends up in the courts, Law Forward is ready to defend our right to fair maps.

Does Wisconsin have it covered? Only if We the People continue to Take Action. We can make 2021 THE year for nonpartisan maps in Wisconsin!

May 2 “Mopping up Wisconsin’s Map Mess”

A smashing success. The Town Hall was sponsored by Grassroots North Shore It was co-Sponsored by the Milwaukee League of Women Voters and the WI Fair Maps Coalition. Panelists Deb Andraca, State Assemblywoman, 23rd Assembly District, Mel Barnes, Staff Attorney, Law Forward, and Carlene Bechen, State Organizer, WI Fair Maps Coalition, blew the audience away. The event was moderated by Debbie Patel, North Shore Fair Maps. VIDEO OF EVENT (jam packed with information you want to know); Q&A FOLLOW UP (answers to questions we did not get to); EVENT SLIDES (with text and slides added to make “reading” them more meaningful); and DISCUSSION OUTLINE WITH ACTION ITEMS AND SOURCE MATERIALS (because sometimes more is more).