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Pharaoh

(8,209 posts)
Fri May 20, 2016, 10:36 PM May 2016

Voters go to court over 'worst partisan gerrymander'

FEATURED, NEWS, POLITICAL, WISCONSIN MAY 18, 2016BY LISA NEFF



A dozen Wisconsin voters and their attorneys will go to federal court in May to present their case challenging one of the worst partisan gerrymanders in modern American history.

They count among their supporters Republican and Democratic politicians, good-government forces, First Amendment advocates, progressive philanthropists and fellow citizens who want their votes to count.

To trial

A four-day trial is set to begin May 24 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin over Act 43, the state’s 2012 redistricting plan for the Wisconsin Assembly.

The crux of the complaint, Whitford v. Nichol, is the 2012 map was drawn unconstitutionally in a way to keep Republican control of the state Legislature and minimize Democratic influence.

“The plaintiffs look forward to presenting evidence at trial showing that the plan was drawn in secret, in consultation with a political scientist and without any input from Democrats, in an attempt to maximize Republican wins and minimize Democratic influence over the political process for as long as the plan was in place,” stated Gerry Hebert, executive director of the Campaign Legal Center, the co-counsel in the case against the state.

The outcome of the case could have far-reac

http://wisconsingazette.com/2016/05/18/voters-go-to-court-over-worst-partisan-gerrymander/
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Voters go to court over 'worst partisan gerrymander' (Original Post) Pharaoh May 2016 OP
kick 840high May 2016 #1
Good. Gerrymandering is a pockmark on politics PoliticalMalcontent May 2016 #2
It's election rigging, plain and simple. ReRe May 2016 #3
Kick. nt silvershadow May 2016 #4
Kick and comment ewagner May 2016 #5

ReRe

(10,597 posts)
3. It's election rigging, plain and simple.
Sat May 21, 2016, 01:09 AM
May 2016

We need to get rid of all gerrymandering and go back to paper ballots. Dump the machines. Period. New paragraph.

ewagner

(18,964 posts)
5. Kick and comment
Sat May 21, 2016, 08:50 AM
May 2016

Federal Court is our last, best chance to overturn this fiasco....

I served on the County Board redistricting committee and we had come up with a fair, impartial and balanced scheme to account for some small, subtle population shifts....

but then....

The State Legislature came up with their scheme and we had to do it all over again...

worse yet, my City of Residency and the districts I represent (both City Council and County Board) were cut up unmercifully because the legislature cut our City into four parts...

So we have two different assembly seats and two different senate seats... all within the same City limits....the votes are cut up so that each of those districts is heavily loaded with Republicans and Democratic votes are so diluted that no Democrat has ever been able to get more than 35% of the vote in any of the four districts since this has come into play.

In my wildest dreams (nightmares) I never imagined that any political party would ever try to sabotage democracy itself...but then, I never dreamed there would be a Scott Walker.

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