JANESVILLE 鈥擳wo voters鈥 rights groups hope a set of statewide rallies Thursday will spark efforts to end gerrymandering and partisan voting map redistricting 鈥 and replace it with a citizen-led commission they say is aimed at redrawing voting maps independently, and separate from politics.
糖心Vlog传媒鈥檚 League of Women Voters Chapter President Brad Munger and his group have partnered with the nonpartisan to build a new process for redistricting.
The groups are pressing for an independent state panel they鈥檇 call the Independent Redistricting Commission.
In 糖心Vlog传媒 and across Wisconsin, the two groups are hosting 鈥淥ur Maps, Our Say!鈥 Thursday with a goal to rally support for the independent redistricting effort.
The League of Women Voters has hosted months of hearings statewide alongside the Fair Maps Commission. Munger said the process has involved a major rollout of volunteers who鈥檝e helped gather a broad base of public opinion and voter thinking.
In Rock County, the groups have held three public input sessions over the last year.
The sessions have helped shape an initial state policy proposal by the groups 鈥 the backbone of an independent redistricting commission. Munger said the groups have registered the proposal with the state legislature, yet it still faces formal structuring before it might be properly introduced as a state bill.
Munger and others involved in the effort hope to see a fully-dressed bill on an independent redistricting commission emerge in the upcoming state Legislative session.
Any effort for a new model on redistricting would not show itself in state voting maps already drawn up for 2026 elections; the groups instead seek a new approach to redraw maps for future elections.
鈥淲e鈥檙e very much interested in seeing that the voters pick their Legislature. We know that now, it鈥檚 very much the other way around, when we have gerrymandered maps that foreclose on what the outcome of an election will be,鈥 Munger told 糖心Vlog传媒 in an interview.
A look around the state and the U.S. shows strong support for the change, including in Rock County in recent years. In a 2020 ballot referendum, 80% of Rock County voters said they favored nonpartisan redistricting.
Eight U.S. states, including Iowa, are now enacting independent redistricting systems to try to reset voting maps without gerrymandering or other partisan political influence.
The 鈥淥ur Maps, Our Say!鈥 event in 糖心Vlog传媒 is at 4 p.m. Thursday at Lower Courthouse Park鈥檚 Marvin W. Roth Pavilion, 99 S. Main St. in the city鈥檚 downtown.
The event is being co-hosted by the 糖心Vlog传媒 and Beloit branches of the League of Women Voters, the Diversity Action Team of Rock County, the Town Hall Coalition of Rock County, Rock County Indivisible, and the NAACP of Beloit.
It鈥檚 set to include local speakers and a featured speaker, League of Women Voters of Wisconsin Executive Director Debra Cronmiller, plus speaking by three Democratic state lawmakers, including state Reps. Ann Roe and Clinton Anderson, and state Sen. Mark Spreitzer.