Crawford Stewardship Project and local Farmers Union Chapters support a Fair Maps Redistricting Referendum addition to the Crawford County ballot in November.

County Board Supervisor Don Stirling presented an advisory referendum proposal to the Crawford County Finance Committee this March for a referendum on the November ballot for Crawford County to read:

“Should the Wisconsin legislature create a nonpartisan procedure for the preparation of legislative and congressional district plans and maps?”

Crawford County passed a Fair Maps Resolution last year (along with over 50 counties across the state in past years), and we greatly appreciate this action. That said, the state continues to fail to listen, so now it is time to hear the voice of the people to help build the public mandate.

Our community deserves the chance to go on record regarding partisan gerrymandering in Wisconsin. The rigging of our political maps is wrong, whether Democrats or Republicans are at fault. With the “safe seats” created by gerrymandering, elected officials are free to ignore their constituents with little risk of an electoral challenge, and the partisanship we see at the state level will continue to worsen.

A Marquette Law School poll earlier this year showed that 72 percent of Wisconsinites want to ban gerrymandering, and support independent, nonpartisan redistricting.

Crawford Stewardship Project, along with the Sterling-Crawford Local and Vernon/Crawford County chapters of the WI Farmers Union are in strong support of this resolution, and hope you will pass this at your June meeting, so the people of this county can have the opportunity to be heard on this important issue.

Click Here to read an article on this issue from Reporter Gillian Pomplun.