Today, Speaker Vos made a haphazard attempt to appear transparent by launching a new public submission website–after a year of ignoring calls for public input in the redistricting process.
For nearly a year, the nonpartisan Peoples’ Maps Commission (PMC) has been providing meaningful opportunities for public input, including holding hearings with redistricting experts from across the country and soliciting maps from the public. As a result, the PMC has already collected thousands of written comments and map submissions from Wisconsinites across the state. Speaker Vos and Republican state legislators have shown zero interest in supporting this nonpartisan, transparent effort. Instead, they have repeatedly tried to undermine the commission, a clear sign they will try to gerrymander the maps again, just like they did ten years ago.
“It is clear Speaker Vos and the Republicans don’t care about the hundreds of Wisconsinites who have already put time and effort into submissions to the PMC. There is no other reasonable explanation for their duplicative, last-minute attempt to recreate a public input process. If Speaker Vos was serious about fair maps and a fair process, he would have supported and participated in the PMC from the beginning,” said AOTL State Director Elizabeth Treviño.
