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With rampant gerrymandering by state legislatures around the US, the courts may be the last hope for fair, competitive districts. Not so in Wisconsin, however.

In March, Governor Tony Evers proposed maps which minimized changes to gerrymandered 2011 maps in an effort to get proposals passed that headed off a Republican supermajority in the legislature. The Wisconsin Supreme Court blessed those maps, but the conservative US. Supreme Court threw them out.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that last week, in another 4-3 decision, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has embraced even more gerrymandered maps proposed by the legislature. The new plan likely gives 63 of the 99 Assembly seats and 23 of the 33 Senate seats to Republicans, in a state that has almost equal numbers of Republican and Democrat voters.

New Hampshire’s House last week adopted heavily gerrymandered NH Senate and Executive Council maps, despite a voter-opinion sign-in that was 281-6 against the Senate maps. SB 240 and 241 await action in the full House before going to the governor. Facing reelection, Governor Chris Sununu asked for changes in the Congressional maps, but has shown no indication of vetoing the Senate & Executive Council plans.

Granny D said, “Democracy is not something we HAVE, it’s something we DO.”

For the American Democracy Minute, I’m Brian Beihl. Visit our website at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.

The post ADM for April 18, 2022: With rampant gerrymandering by state legislatures around the US, the courts may be the last hope for fair, competitive districts. Not in Wisconsin, however. appeared first on American Democracy Minute.