Gerrymandering stands in the way of fair elections

To the editor:

Everyone wants their vote to make a difference. If a Wisconsin Assembly, Senate or Congressional district has been drawn to the advantage of one political party, the chance of electing a candidate of the opposing party in that district is minimal.

Our community and our elected officials must go on record to oppose partisan gerrymandering in Wisconsin.

The rigging of our political maps is wrong. It allows for too many safe seats. It allows elected officials to ignore the opinions of their constituents far too easily.

After the 2020 census, new district maps will be drawn. No party in power should be able to rig district maps to keep themselves in power for 10 more years. That’s just un-American.

Banning gerrymandering by forming a commission that would draw fair maps has enormous bipartisan support in Wisconsin.

A Marquette Law School poll last year showed that 72% of Wisconsinites want to ban gerrymandering, and that includes 63% of Republicans and 76% of Independents.

Already, over 50 county boards — representing about 80% of the state’s population — have passed resolutions urging the state legislature to ban gerrymandering in Wisconsin and give us independent, nonpartisan redistricting. Also, nine communities had voters weigh in directly and successfully passed county or municipal-wide referendums.

Our community and our elected officials should do this, too. Encourage the Shawano County Board to weigh in on this issue.

Lynn Ackley, Shawano