LWV WILL HOST JAY HECK of COMMON CAUSE

The LWV/ABC will hold their Fall Membership Meeting on September 24th from 6:00pm to 7: 30pm via Zoom. The public is invited to attend and can register by contacting President Suzanne Niemi at (president@abcleaguevoters.org).

We have invited Jay Heck, Executive Director of Common Cause in Wisconsin, a non-partisan citizens reform advocacy organization, to be our guest speaker. Mr. Heck will discuss Fair Maps. He is known for leading redistricting reform in Wisconsin and advocating for the Iowa model that uses an independent non-partisan organization to draw new district maps.

From Sue Niemi, President, League of Women Voters of Ashland and Bayfield Counties:

To learn more about Jay's extensive work in protecting our democracy through Common Cause, please click on his bio here.

CC/WI was established in 1996 and is now Wisconsin’s largest non-partisan citizens reform advocacy organization with 2500 plus members. Jay Heck is known for leading redistricting reform in Wisconsin. He advocates for the Iowa model that uses an independent non-partisan organization to draw new district maps. He has also unified legislators and organizations to seek a more democratic approach to partisan gerrymandering.

Please join us for this timely and extremely relevant event! Common Cause has been around since 1970 and works tirelessly on critical actions to ensure our democracy remains just that - a democracy. As stated on their website:

In America, elections are supposed to reflect the will of the people, not politicians. We all want our voices to be heard in determining the future of our families and communities. We are fighting for a census in which every person is counted and a process for drawing district boundaries that puts our communities, and not the needs of politicians, first.

As I mentioned, this is a timely event. In November, there will be an advisory referendum on the ballot in Bayfield County to create a countywide nonpartisan procedure for the preparation of legislative and congressional re-districting plans and maps. Since we are unable to get this type of action through the Wisconsin Legislature at this time, we are forced to pursue it county by county.

Please plan to attend this important meeting and learn more about the fight against gerrymandering. We do have a participant limit of 100, so please plan to let me know asap if you'd like to attend. All you need to do is reply that you'd like to attend and I will send you a calendar invitation with the Zoom information.

Special thanks for Gail Syverud, our Membership Chair, for securing Jay for this event!