Friend -- We wanted to share a huge victory out of Michigan in the movement for fair maps. Last week, a lawsuit backed by an organization with ties to the National Republican Redistricting Trust (Scott Walker's pro-gerrymandering group) failed in its attempt to tear down Michigan's independent redistricting commission -- a reform passed overwhelmingly by voters in 2018.
A.G. Holder is right -- this is a major victory in our fight to restore fairness to our elections. But the NRRT and other special interest groups across the country are going to continue to be a problem. They're fundraising for more lawsuits to defeat citizen-led reform. Can you help us fight back against their attacks on our democracy?
Before leading the NRRT, Scott Walker was the governor of Wisconsin where he did nearly anything to cling to power. He signed into law some of the most gerrymandered maps and one of the most discriminatory voter ID laws in the country.
Walker's history of suppressing the vote and protecting ill-begotten majority power in the gerrymandered state legislature made it all the more unbelievable when last week he said that stay-at-home orders were "what happens when people get power-hungry."
No, Scotty. When politicians get power-hungry, they sue citizen-backed independent redistricting commissions because they want to hold on to the power to gerrymander.
The bottom line is last week's victory for Michigan's independent redistricting commission tells us two things: 1.) Advocates for fairness are incredibly resilient and our reforms are durable against attacks and 2.) Our opponents are desperate to use gerrymandering.
We need to be prepared for the next attack on fair redistricting. Can you pitch in to make sure we're ready?
Thank you,
The AOTL Team
