Hello from North Shore Fair Maps!
Why what we are doing matters
A child who started 1st grade this week will be getting ready for the high school prom when the next set of voting district lines are drawn. Let that sink in.
The maps being drawn today will – for a decade – determine who represents us and what resources we get. The maps affect our schools, our parks, our hospitals and our social services, whether the water we drink and the air we breathe are clean, and so much more. As David Daley (“Ratf**cked” and “Unrigged“) wrote in The Guardian, “Our health, safety and wellbeing – our very lives – are in the hands of our state legislators. It is imperative that our votes decide who they are.”
Alice Walker (The Color Purple) once said “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.”
If we let political operatives draw lines without us again, we give up our power and let them choose their voters. That’s not fair. And not necessary.
We have the power to stop them — to protect our freedom to vote and make that vote matter. We’ve already stopped the politicians from working entirely in a locked room as they did in 2011. Working together with people of different backgrounds, colors, political persuasions, and zip codes, we forced* the Legislature to open a public comment and mapping website (see #3 below)! Go, us!
We need to rev up our engines and keep the pedal to the metal:
- Commit to learn more (and act upon what you learn) by signing up for “Just Say NO!” – NSFM’s virtual monthly meeting 7 PM CT Monday, September 13. Read more on our Events page. “Just Say NO!” is a special statewide meeting featuring mathematician and bestselling author Jordan Ellenberg, Law Forward / Stafford Rosenbaum Attorney Doug Poland, and Sachin Chheda, Director and Co-Founder of the Fair Elections Project. Come prepared to learn and be inspired. Bring a friend and/or engage an organization to join as a co-host (get the word out and get their logo on a slide). See the poster below. Click HERE for a PDF with working links. Register at https://bit.ly/NSFMMonthly.
- Make time and sign up to talk to your legislators at the virtual Fair Maps Lobby Day September 27. All virtual, working in teams, training provided. See flyer for details. https://bit.ly/FMC_LobbyDayFlyer. Register at https://bit.ly/FMC_LobbyReg. Read more from the Fair Maps Coalition HERE.
- (Re)submit your Community of Interest map to the Legislature’s website soliciting public input. See these resubmittal instructions and more from the Fair Maps Coalition. For assistance, email Cheryl at CMaranto4860@gmail.com. More details to come.
- Make some “Postal pleas.” Write postcards to raise public awareness and action, and to legislators demanding a hearing on the bi-partisan fair maps bill. Email Cheryl Maranto CMaranto4860@gmail.com (Milw North Shore) or Lynn Carey Lynnkcarey@gmail.com (Germantown) to get a packet of postcards, a script, and addresses. Use your own stamps or ask if we have some (as of now we do!)
- Table at your local library or event. We have brochures, yard signs and bumper magnets that you can distribute while you talk with folks about the urgent need for public pressure for fair maps. Hit reply if this interests you.
Meanwhile, the NSFM steering committee met and set tentative goals for September-December. You can find the draft HERE.
If you missed these earlier,
- Show your support of AB 395 & SB 389, Wisconsin’s nonpartisan redistricting bills. Now easier than ever, go to this website, demand a hearing on the bills, and demand fair maps. https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-your-state-legislators-to-support-redistricting-reform-in-wisconsin
- Still time to sign the fair maps petition. https://www.fairmapswi.com/petition21
- Don’t forget the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the For the People Act. Senators pay attention to the number of contacts they get. Tell them to pass these acts! Tammy Baldwin: https://www.baldwin.senate.gov/feedback / Ron Johnson: https://www.ronjohnson.senate.gov/email-the-senator.
- Read the August Fair Maps Coalition Newsletter. https://bit.ly/FMC_NewsAug21
Two articles (in addition to David Daley’s above) worth a hard look this week (especially if you follow the links in them):
- Ruth Conniff about the pending WI Supreme Court action — in the Wisconsin Examiner (with a link to an excellent video debate between WILL’s Rick Esenberg and Law Forward’s Jeff Mandel): https://wisconsinexaminer.com/
- Matt Rothschild (WI Democracy Campaign) wants us to submit letter to the Legislature (see item #3 above) – in Urban Milwaukee (and the FMC newsletter): https://urbanmilwaukee.com/
*The folks in Madison may say they did this on their own accord without any pressure, but this move is so remarkably different from what they did in 2011, and because of gerrymandering the party bosses then are the party bosses now, it seems pretty clear they were indeed “forced.” Again, go us!