Oregon Area Progressives supports passage of legislation to establish a nonpartisan process for creating voting district maps. People should pick their representatives. Politicians should not be allowed to choose their voters.
In 2018 elections, Democrats won all five statewide races - Governor, Attorney General, US Senate, Secretary of State, and Treasurer - while the State Legislature retained a dominant Republican majority. This was a dramatic illustration of the deeply entrenched 2011 GOP partisan gerrymander.
Oregon Area Progressives decided to host the Fair Maps for Wisconsin (#FM4WI) Summit to educate, engage, and activate grassroots volunteers across the state to take action to end partisan gerrymandering. OAP invited national and state experts to Marshfield, WI in November of 2019 where they shared the expertise about the impacts of partisan gerrymandering on policy decisions and legislation, best practices in redistricting, organizational strategies, legislative lobbying, and ways to get media attention.
Nearly 200 volunteers attended that #FM4WI Summit. Participants met in regional groups to discuss effective strategies in their part of Wisconsin and agreed to continue meeting. Following the #FM4WI Summit, a State Organizing Director was hired by the Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition to continue the work started by OAP.
We are proud of these efforts and the strides that have been made since toward achieving fairer legislative maps in Wisconsin.
Check out these resources for information about redistricting and gerrymandering:
https://www.fairmapswi.com/
Mission Statement of the Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition:
The mission of the Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition is to ensure representative government for all, by advocating for and enacting (in law and practice) an independent and nonpartisan redistricting process, building a truly fair and accountable judiciary, and securing the rights of the populace to fair and equal access to voting, by educating and engaging the people of Wisconsin.
https://lawforward.org/
Law Forward exists to protect and strengthen our democracy. Law Forward stands for a commitment to fair, transparent, and representative government; where Wisconsinites can participate in free, fair elections where their votes count.
Law Forward is a pro-voter, pro-democracy nonprofit that was created because Wisconsin needed a legal organization that could strategically develop the law in the progressive tradition Wisconsin is known for. Law Forward builds cases and identify opportunities to protect the right to vote and strengthen free and fair elections. Their work engages policymakers, the legal community, and the public on legal issues, expanding both opportunities and demand for progressive change.