MADISON – Wisconsin Conservation Voters and its 40,000-plus members and supporters offer Gov. Tony Evers their profound gratitude for his veto today of the gerrymandered district maps the Republican-led legislature passed last week.
Executive Director Kerry Schumann had this to say about the veto:
“For a decade Wisconsin has suffered under some of the most egregious gerrymandering in the U.S. We thank Gov. Evers for standing up for our freedom to vote and rejecting this attempt to manipulate our elections for another decade through unfair districts designed to consolidate power rather than honor the will of Wisconsinites.
Wisconsinites in both urban and rural areas face a myriad of threats to their drinking water. Gerrymandered elected legislators have stopped any meaningful attempts to protect our families and communities from poisonous water. Drinking water is just one example. The list includes polluted water, dirty air, a lack of meaningful action on climate change, voter disenfranchisement, rampant spending on behalf of polluting corporations, even failing to protect babies from lead poisoning. Despite broad support statewide for protecting one another from these harms, legislators elected under the gerrymander don’t have to act. They have zero accountability to voters because their seats are rigged.
We can only address the most fundamental and pressing issues of our day – clean water, climate change, and a fair democracy – with modern, fair maps and competitive districts that allow voters to hold their elected officials accountable.
Gov. Evers understands this and has committed to fair maps that allow all of us, and I mean all of us, to choose those who represent our values as individuals and communities – not someone hand picked by another gerrymandered politician like Robin Vos who doesn’t give a hoot about our very real and very serious concerns.
We thank Gov. Evers for vetoing these rigged, gerrymandered, anti-democratic maps concocted by radical partisans and for prioritizing the needs and will of the people not corporate polluters and right-wing extremists.”
