Where Are Wisconsin’s Fair Maps?
This event is free and open to the public but registration is necessary.
[Banner image created by Shirley Smith]
Elected representatives reflect the will of those who vote them into office, right? Not so much when extreme (but legal) partisan voting district lines are drawn to favor the party in power. This is gerrymandering. Historically, it’s a practice Wisconsin Republicans and Democrats alike have employed. But with modern data-gathering techniques, parties in power are carving out favorable districts with extreme precision. Most Wisconsin voters are calling for an end to the practice once and for all with fair, nonpartisan maps. Join the League of Women Voters of Dane County on September 1 as Doug Poland, Litigation Director with Law Forward, Matt Rothschild, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, and Kriss Marion, Lafayette County Supervisor, District 8, bring us up to date on the legal information/strategy, and the financial impacts of gerrymandering in Wisconsin.
Together we will explore the legal information/strategy and the financial impacts of gerrymandering in Wisconsin, so we will know how best to follow legal and legislative events and engage in actions to defend fair voting districts.
Audience questions and commentary will be welcome throughout this Zoom webinar via Q&A.
Resource / study materials
Speakers:
Doug Poland
Litigation Director, Law Forward
Doug has 26 years of experience in complex litigation matters in Wisconsin and throughout the U.S. Doug successfully challenged Wisconsin Assembly legislative districts before three-judge federal panels in 2012 and 2016, served on the legal team that took the Gill v. Whitford partisan gerrymandering case to the U.S. Supreme Court, and obtained an extension of the ballot receipt deadline for absentee voters in the Spring 2020 Wisconsin election. Doug is a partner at Stafford Rosenbaum LLP; he was previously a partner at Rathje Woodward LLC, Godfrey & Kahn S.C., and Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Doug earned his J.D. summa cum laude from Loyola University Chicago School of Law.
Matt Rothschild
Executive Director, Wisconsin Democracy Campaign
Prior to joining the Democracy Campaign at the start of 2015, Matt worked at The Progressive magazine for 32 years. For most of those, he was the editor and publisher of The Progressive. While there, he wrote a book entitled You Have No Rights: Stories of America in an Age of Repression. And he edited an anthology called Democracy in Print: The Best of The Progressive, 1909–2009. His opinion pieces have run in the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, the Miami Herald and a host of other newspapers. And he’s appeared on Nightline, NPR, C-SPAN and WISC-TV, where he does election night commentary. If you live in Wisconsin, you may have heard him on The Devils Advocates, WOJB, WORT or Wisconsin Public Radio. Matt's first job out of college was working for Ralph Nader at a publication called Multinational Monitor.
Kriss Marion
Lafayette County Supervisor
Kriss Marion is a small farmer and BnB owner/operator in southwest Wisconsin. She is serving her third term as Lafayette County Supervisor. Kriss has a particular concern for rural communities, Main Streets, small businesses and family farms. She believes gerrymandering disenfranchises all of these stakeholders.
Moderator:
Joy Cardin
Joy Cardin is a retired WPR talk show host, a member of the board of directors of LWV Wisconsin, and a member of LWV Dane County’s Making Democracy Work Program subcommittee.