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Green Bay Senator to Lead Fight for Fair Voting Districts PDF Print E-mail
News - Articles for State & Local
Written by GBP Staff   
Monday, 28 November 2016 10:59

voter-us-electionsPassing non-partisan redistricting should be a top priority. Sen. Hansen will reintroduce legislation for 2017 to create fair and accurate district maps.


MADISON - State Senator Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay) announced Monday that he will re-introduce legislation to create a non-partisan redistricting process. Hansen’s announcement comes in response to a recent court decision that declared the maps drawn by legislative Republicans to be unconstitutional.

dave-hansen“As we have seen with the maps drawn by the Republicans in 2011, the current system makes it too easy for the majority party to gerrymander the maps to their long-term advantage,” said Hansen. “Neither political party should be able to lock in their power by creating an unfair advantage in drawing district lines. The current process, as shown by the Republicans, is unconstitutional and undemocratic.”

In 2011 Republican leaders and staff worked in secret outside the Capitol to draw district lines designed to lock in their legislative majorities for ten years or more. As a result, in the 2012 election Republicans took over 61% of the seats in the State Assembly despite winning less than 49% of the vote.

“We try to teach our children that every vote counts. But under the current system that is not true. With the technology available there is no excuse for not drawing truly fair and competitive district lines. The only reason for someone to oppose having the lines drawn by a neutral party is because of a desire to hold onto power no matter how unfairly it was gained.”

Hansen said he intends to introduce the bill in January and said making the change is important regardless of how the Supreme Court decides the case.

“If the Supreme Court upholds the current decision then we will need to have a fair system in place. If the Supreme Court does not uphold the decision we will still need to have a fair system in place. Regardless of the Court’s decision the current system is unfair to the voters and a new non-partisan system is needed.”

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Jay Wadd contributed to this story.

Last Updated on Monday, 28 November 2016 16:03
 
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