News release submitted
JANESVILLE — Local advocates for fair election maps will meet in Janesville’s Lower Courthouse Park at 4 p.m. Thursday, June 4 to make their case in an event called Our Maps, Our Say!
The event is one of several around the state on June 4. It is designed to raise interest in a proposal to replace gerrymandering of voting-district boundaries.
A Wisconsin-specific, citizen-led Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) would replace the current partisan redistricting process.
The proposal is the work of the Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition and League of Women Voters, who have drafted a legislative proposal with input from experts and the public.
The event’s featured speaker will be Debra Cronmiller, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin.
“Events today around the country demonstrate why we can’t let partisan politicians control redistricting,” Cronmiller said in a news release, referring to the unprecedented Democratic and Republican efforts to redistrict some states to win a majority in the House of Representatives in this fall’s elections.
The process to change the law will take time and will not affect the 2026 elections.
“An Independent Redistricting Commission will remove the map-drawing process from the partisan politicians in the Legislature,” Cronmiller said. “Passing legislation to establish an IRC is the right thing to do, and an issue that resonates with a majority of voters. We look forward to working with legislators on both sides of the aisle to get this legislation passed to ensure that all future district maps in Wisconsin are fair.”
Other speakers at Our Maps, Our Say! will include state Sen. Mark Spreitzer and state representatives Clinton Anderson and Ann Roe.
A majority of Wisconsin counties have supported fair maps in recent years, either through advisory referendums or county board resolutions.
Eighty percent of Rock County voters favored non-partisan redistricting in an April 2020 referendum.
Wisconsin could join eight other states, including neighboring Iowa, in establishing a nonpartisan process for drawing fair voting maps.
The event is co-sponsored by the Diversity Action Team of Rock County, Rock County Indivisible, Town Hall Coalition of Rock County and the Janesville and Beloit League of Women voters branches.
Local event organizer Brad Munger, the acting president of the League of Women Voters of Janesville, noted both Democrats and Republicans have benefited from the current system when they held the majority in the state Legislature over the years.
“Instead of partisan legislators choosing their voters, this proposal would allow voters to choose their lawmakers in the fairest way possible,” Munger said.
Paid partnership with BWW Go in Janesville.
