A letter from one end of a gerrymandered district to another
Dear DeForest and Windsor Residents,
As I compose this letter, I am thinking, in particular, of folks who live near Windsor Road or the families with kids in the DeForest Area School District.
I’ve never visited your towns, although I am sure they are lovely and that my family would enjoy an outing in your part of the state. But let’s put a pin in tourism plans for the moment*.
I’m writing to you for a different and, perhaps, odd reason.
A Wisconsin map maker — a political cartographer — decided that you have more in common with my community, 54 miles away in Oconomowoc, than with others only a few miles north or south of your town.
In fact, there’s a slightly circuitous route you can follow from Windsor Rd in Senate District 13 to the junction of County Rd V and I-90, that takes you through Senate District’s 13 and 27 three times, with a brief visit to distrct 14!
This doesn’t sound like a contiguous boundary.
Still, for the time being, we are “district mates”. Not that it’s a bad thing, but I suspect you have more in common, as a community, with others closer to you. This is what gerrymandering does. Someone, for political purposes, lumped us together for the benefit of their political party.
We need to change this and develop fair maps that keep communities together. Right now, as co-habitants of Senate District 13, we have an opportunity on April 6th to change this. To be honest, this is something you can get behind no matter what party you typically vote for.
There is only one candidate who supports fair maps and that is Melissa Winker.
We can work together, as fellow members of District 13, to rebuild our democracy. That starts with electing representatives in Madison who support non-partisan district maps.
Cartographically yours,
John
Oconomowoc, WI
P.S. *Perhaps we can both visit Senate District 13’s gerrymandered island in the middle of District 27 in Burke, just 10 mins south of you!
P.S.S. Check out more of the “boundary work” at the Wisconsin State Legislature’s online map resource. If you think District 13 looks odd, take a gander at District 27!
