[Lekooks] Fwd: Larson Report: My Voters, by Choice

Mon Oct 25 17:17:08 CDT 2021

Hi friends,
I wanted to share this very well written explanation of partisan
gerrymandering in our state by State Sen Chris Larson and offer something
you can do to help ensure Fair Maps are drawn in WI. In my opinion, fair
maps are a crucial ingredient in a thriving democracy; unfortunately, WI
right now has a very lopsided set of maps that heavily favor one political
party, even though our state is a 50/50 "purple" state.  Please consider
either going to the WI state capital on Thurs 10/28 at 9 am or write to
your elected officials (before the public hearing) to share your views.  I
intend to contact my elected officials (including Gov Evers) to tell them
that I, (along with 80% of Wisconsinites), support Fair Maps and in
particular bill (SB 389). Thank you for your consideration of this critical
and timely matter.
Catherine Marrari

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Senator Chris Larson <Sen.Larson at legis.wi.gov>
Date: Mon, Oct 25, 2021 at 8:45 AM
Subject: Larson Report: My Voters, by Choice
To: Catherine Marrari <hiking4us at gmail.com>

Today, we wrap up our series with the final installment “My Voters, by
Choice,” where we discuss the impact of gerrymandering on our democracy.
View this email in your browser
<https://mailchi.mp/3cdaaef4281a/larson-report-my-voters-by-choice-4882662?e=6f48bf18d3>

*The Larson Report*

Progressive perspectives from Senator Chris Larson
Catherine,

Nearly a year ago, in November 2020, I began a series of Larson Reports
entitled *Democracy in Distress. *In it, we’ve covered a variety of topics,
including the spread of misinformation, money in politics, and voter
suppression. Today, we wrap up our series with the final installment “My
Voters, by Choice,” where we discuss the impact of gerrymandering on our
democracy.

According to the Schwarzenegger Institute of USC, *Wisconsin has the 2nd
worst partisan gerrymander in the nation*. *Republicans just released their
map proposals* for the next decade on October 21st (AB 624/SB 621
<https://legis.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6247338a47c1e2cb95294a140&id=62c31d8672&e=6f48bf18d3>
and AB 625/SB 622
<https://legis.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6247338a47c1e2cb95294a140&id=c56507bde1&e=6f48bf18d3>),
and if anything, *these new maps are even worse!*

We begin with the basics of what gerrymandering is, continue on to how it
has been used in Wisconsin, and conclude with what’s next and what can be
done to fight back.
*Scary Gerry*

The term “gerrymandering” originated from a 19th-century Massachusetts
politician named Elbridge Gerry. While Governor of the state in 1812, he
signed a bill that created a legislative district in the Boston area that
resembled a salamander in shape. A Gerry-mander, if you will. Since then,
the term has come to stand for any legislative district that is drawn in
such a way as to serve the political interests of the creator rather than
the interests of the people they represent. Currently, it refers to
districts meant to advantage one party or another (partisan
gerrymandering), but in the past it has also been used to dilute the voice
of voters of color (racial gerrymandering). Sadly, with the way today’s
politics have aligned, it’s often difficult to distinguish one type from
the other.

To actually accomplish the goal of creating districts that advantage one
group over another in an unfair manner, two primary strategies are used:
packing and cracking. The graphic below gives a pretty clear visual example
of what this looks like in a hypothetical community.
------------------------------

Image courtesy of WikiMedia Commons
------------------------------

In the example above, two different scenarios play out, each with a 60/40
split of voters, but neither of which contain a reasonably equivalent share
of seats. In the first scenario, 5 districts are created, with Blue winning
all 5. It is “fair” in one sense, in that the majority party is in power,
but it seems very undemocratic when you consider that the 40% of the
population that supports Red have no voice in their government whatsoever.
This is a textbook example of “cracking,” or diluting the vote of the red
party by spreading them out over multiple districts.

In the second scenario, despite having a minority of voters, the Red party
actually wins 60% of the seats. This is an extreme example of packing,
where Blue voters have been “packed” into two 90/10 districts, while Red
voters are placed into three 60/40 districts, giving them both a solid
governing majority and three relatively safe seats.

Where does Wisconsin fall on the packing/cracking spectrum? By and large,
it’s a matter of packing. Democratic voters, who tend to live in
population-dense communities, are packed into a smaller number of
super-majority districts with 60% or more of the total vote, while
Republican voters are spread among many more districts with smaller (but
still safe) majorities.

Unlike the example above, Wisconsin voters statewide are fairly evenly
split. However, Democrats have won slim victories in all but one of the
last eleven statewide races (see the table below), with a median victory
margin of 5.5 percentage points.
------------------------------

------------------------------

You might think that with such competitive statewide elections, the
legislature would be evenly split. That could not be further from the
truth. Currently, the Assembly has a 61-38 Republican majority and the
Senate has a 21-12 majority. Knowing this, two main questions come to mind:
has it always been this way, and how did we get here?
*An Un-Wisconsin Idea*

Since the advent of representative democracy, politicians have been trying
to get an edge over their opposition. In a two-party system, like we have
in the United States, this essentially splits the field into two teams. In
Wisconsin, we have had a long history of split-ticket voting, leading to
large swaths of our history where a Governor of one party presided over a
legislature of another. This divided government led to a situation where
for 30 years, the court system determined the legislative maps for our
state, rather than the legislature and governor, because the two parties
could not agree on a plan.

That all changed in 2010, a “wave” election year where Governor Scott
Walker and a Republican-majority legislature took unilateral control of
state government. In August 2011, just 5 months after receiving census data
from the federal government, Governor Walker signed bills to create new
Congressional and state legislative maps, which remain virtually unchanged
to this day (the 8th and 9th Assembly District lines were redrawn in April
2012 to ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act with respect to
Hispanic voters in Milwaukee).

Despite most of the state’s political attention being paid to the Act 10
uprising and the subsequent recall elections, it was clear from the start
that these new maps were not fair by any means. How unfair? Well, according
to analysis by the PlanScore project of the Campaign Legal Center, the maps
which went into effect in 2012 contained a 14.1% GOP bias for Congress,
11.7% bias for the Assembly, and 12.4% bias for the State Senate. Looking
at the chart below, we can see that this bias was much higher than any of
the four previous redistricting plans.
------------------------------

*
<https://legis.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6247338a47c1e2cb95294a140&id=d88c184fcf&e=6f48bf18d3>*
------------------------------

As you can see, while slight advantages have been enjoyed by both parties
over the years during redistricting, the 2012 plans were different.
Single-party control of state government, combined with a Governor and GOP
leadership in Scott Fitzgerald and Robin Vos who were willing to sacrifice
norms of fairness for pure partisan advantage, led to the situation we have
today, where even the most competitive elections see a near supermajority
of seats won by Republicans across the state.

If Republicans have their way this time around, the maps for the next
decade will be even more biased. Thankfully, Governor Evers is sure to veto
these incredibly unfair district maps, meaning that once again, the future
of our state rests with the courts.
*Kicking the Habit*

The 2012 redistricting fiasco brought with it an increased awareness within
the general public about the importance of fair legislative maps. The Fair
Elections Project, a bipartisan effort to create fair maps, and the Fair
Maps Coalition, a group of community organizations united around the
concept of fair maps, have been hard at work educating the public, pursuing
legal remedies to gerrymandering, and helping to pass referendums and
legislation at the city and county levels in support of fair maps.

All of this work has been remarkably successful. In fact, jurisdictions
representing around 80% of Wisconsin residents have passed referendums or
resolutions in favor of nonpartisan redistricting. I was even fact-checked
on this claim, which was rated “True.” A Marquette Law School Poll in 2019
found 72% support for a nonpartisan redistricting process statewide.
------------------------------

------------------------------

In the long term, changing our state’s laws, like AB 395/SB 389
<https://legis.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6247338a47c1e2cb95294a140&id=a57ff5f983&e=6f48bf18d3>,
which my colleagues and I introduced this session to create a binding
nonpartisan map-drawing process, is the best way forward. In the short
term, what can be done to ensure the maps in place for next year’s crucial
midterm elections create electoral outcomes that reflect the will of a
majority of voters?

The reality is that unless you’re a lawyer involved in one of the ongoing
legal cases surrounding our maps, or a judge hearing one of those cases,
what happens with our maps is mostly out of your hands for this cycle, with
one clear exception. On *Thursday, October 28th at 9:00am, the legislature
is hosting a joint public hearing* at the Capitol in Madison regarding the
Republicans’ proposed redistricting plan. *It is absolutely crucial that as
many Wisconsinites as possible attend this hearing and make their voices
heard*. We must make clear to all politicians, regardless of party, that we
will not tolerate one side rigging the game and disenfranchising hundreds
of thousands of voters.
------------------------------

------------------------------

If you can’t make it to Madison for the hearing, *consider contacting your
elected officials to let them know you support fair maps (SB 389), not the
gerrymandered GOP proposals mentioned above*. If a majority of the
legislature is going to vote for a plan that a majority of the state
opposes, they absolutely need to hear about it. Looking ahead to the 2022
elections, before you make your choice of who to vote for, find out where
they stand on fair maps.
*Conclusion*

Whether this is the first installment of my *Democracy in Distress* series
that you’ve read, or you’ve been with me since the beginning, I want to
take a moment to say “thanks.” If you’d like to catch up on any of the
previous installments, visit my legislative website.
<https://legis.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6247338a47c1e2cb95294a140&id=f06257c1f5&e=6f48bf18d3>

It is my distinct privilege to represent my neighbors in Madison, whether
they live in the 7th District or anywhere else in the state. We are all in
this together, and we all deserve to have our voices heard. That means
voters should pick their representatives, not the other way around. For my
part, I will continue to do all I can to fight back to ensure all our
neighbors' voices are heard in Wisconsin.

*In service,*

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