LETTER: Flagrant gerrymandering in Wisconsin damages democracy

To Ozaukee Press:

On Oct. 1, my husband and I attended a presentation at Concordia University Wisconsin sponsored by the League of Women Voters and Bridge the Divide on the topic of fair voting maps.

Dale Schultz, a former Republican legislator of 23 years and former majority leader with 50 years of political experience, spoke strongly for fair redistricting of the Wisconsin voting maps. He was joined by Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause Wisconsin, a non-partisan group that supports issues, not candidates.

“The problem is the state legislators in the majority party are choosing their voters by manipulating the district lines — gerrymandering. They spread supportive voters over more districts and pack the non-supportive voters into fewer districts. This results in noncompetitive elections, no real voter choice at the polls, and less responsive legislators at the state and national level,” according to Common Cause Wisconsin.

The current maps, as dawn by Republicans, create unfairness, and we, the voters, are the losers. We do not support that either party be in charge of redistricting, done after every census.

In November 2018, Democrats won the statewide constitutional elections, but not in the gerrymandered districts where predictably not a single Republican incumbent lost.

Some 70% of Wisconsin folks want fair redistricting. We are committed to voting only for candidates who also support fair voting maps. We all deserve to be fairly represented.

And so I ask the current legislators: Why are you afraid of a fair system? To all the incumbents and candidates, will you support a nonpartisan redistricting reform process like Iowa’s model that ensures fair lines are drawn without partisan consideration?

Currently in Wisconsin we have one of the most gerrymandered voting maps in the United States. Nine out of 10 voters have no real choice at the polls. This is not democracy.

Pat and Galen Goeden
Cedarburg