Fair elections require fair maps

We have long proposed adopting the Iowa model when it comes to drawing legislative boundaries in Wisconsin. Finally, a Wisconsin governor agrees that is a more fair system. Wisconsin law says whatever political party controls the legislature at the time of the census gets to redraw the boundaries every ten years. That has led to partisan gerrymandering, creating legislative districts that determine where you vote being so unfairly stacked with voters of one party that the opposition party doesn’t stand a chance. Wisconsin’s legislative districts are among the most jagged, skewed and rigged districts of any state in the country. Forget about voter fraud. This is political fraud. The outcome is largely determined before anyone even steps into the voting booth. In Iowa, they use a non-partisan legislative agency. They have removed politics from the process of political boundaries. In that state, candidates in both parties have a fair shot at winning the election. Taking politics out of the creation of legislative boundaries is the single thing that could be done to restore fairness to our elections. It would allow voters to choose their candidates, rather than the other way around. Fair elections require fair maps, and creating a non-partisan agency to do that work is the best way to do that.