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Dear Editor:
Ballots are arriving soon for people who have already requested to vote from home. Each precinct's many choices will be different, and we may appreciate having some extra time to do a little research on various items. However, if you live in Iowa County, there is one question that should be TOTALLY simple to decide. Due to hard work by some caring citizens, we'll have a referendum question asking simply whether you'd prefer fair mapping to replace the extremely gerrymandered district lines that are making Wisconsin a laughing stock around the world. Yes, pictures of some of our districts have been used to illuminate the absurdity of gerrymandering to folks lucky enough to have escaped the blight.
Both "sides" have participated, it is the one truly non-partisan issue that all Americans should believe in: that every vote should count equally, whether you live on one side of the street or the other. Currently, allowing politicians to draw the lines, neighborhoods are so ridiculously chopped up that many seats are utterly locked up by one party or the other. This silences the voices of many, and drowns many attempts for change. States that have fair mapping systems, created by non-partisan panels, look kind of like checkerboards. Wisconsin looks like shredded cheese thrown onto a pizza in clumps and random strings.
So, the easiest box to click on the Nov. ballot: "YES" on the FAIR MAPPING referendum. It is a no-brainer.
Peggy Peckham, Arena, WI