‌‌‌‌‌GOP State Sen Stands Up For Wisconsin Elections

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A Wisconsin Republican stood up to her own party on behalf of election integrity and election workers. Also: New technology has made redistricting more transparent. It’s a great resource for the public, but, ultimately, will more transparency lead to fairer maps? I asked an expert.

Has redistricting changed your congressional or state-level political representation for the worse? For the better? Chime in on The Hive. You can also respond to this email and tell me about it.
 

Alright, let’s dig in.

What It Looks Like To Stand Up To Your Party

We wrote recently about WISCONSIN State Sen. Kathy Bernier (R), a member of Republican leadership in the state Senate, a former county clerk, and chair of the state Senate’s election committee.

Unlike her Republican colleagues, who are lining up behind a blatantly politicized investigation into the 2020 election, Bernier has decided to speak out in defense of the last election.

“We have a great system here, and no one should falsely accuse election officials of cheating,” Bernier said last week, citing “pressure from Donald Trump” as an influence on Republicans’ decision to pursue the probe.

Facing Republican pressure for her statements, Bernier tweeted Thursday: “I've been contemplating retirement. But, I may rethink it. Right wingers calling for my resignation, is motivation!” 

Interactive Redistricting Tools Can’t Make Politicians Feel Shame

We have a few articles in the works on the gerrymandering year-in-review. In the course of writing, I spoke to one of America’s foremost chroniclers of our broken redistricting process, David Daley, the author of a formative book on the topic, “Ratf**cked,” and more recently, “Unrigged.” 
 

I was wondering specifically about a wave of tech-enabled transparency around this year’s redistricting process. Redistricting consultants to the two major parties have long used data analyses and algorithms to splice and dice proposed congressional and state-level districts down to the block level. But now, thanks to excellent resources like Dave’s Redistricting App and the Princeton Gerrymandering Project, regular citizens can freely evaluate how proposed legislative maps would affect the party affiliation and demographics for given districts.
 

The technology is great, but can it ultimately make redistricting more equitable? Daley was on the fence, though he acknowledged his admiration for the transparency efforts.

In recent years, the digital tools have helped underscore for Democrats and the public that gerrymandering is a serious problem, Daley said. But he stressed that simply having that information is not enough.

“The information is powerful, and it is forcing journalists and academics to think about this in a new way,” he said. “What it hasn’t done so far is shame lawmakers into acting a different way. So we should be extraordinarily thankful and grateful that these tools exist. As these maps are litigated in court, they may well save the day in some cases. But it says something about the power of these gerrymanders, and how insulated the politicians who craft them and vote for them feel, that even though we can now see through what they’re doing, it doesn’t stop them.” 

Around The States

Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV), upset about NEVADA Democrats’ redistricting plans, unloaded on her party: “I totally got fucked by the legislature on my district.” 
 

Detroit MICHIGAN Mayor Mike Duggan has threatened to sue the U.S. Census Bureau in light of evidence that the city’s population was undercounted. 
 

OREGON lawmakers may restore the right to vote to incarcerated people convicted of felonies. This would be the first state to do so. 
 

“FLORIDA’s claims of voter fraud and low voter confidence are unsupported by the record, undermined by [our states’] experiences, and, in any event, insufficient to justify the burdens imposed,” a group of Democratic attorneys general wrote in a friend-of-the-court brief, for a lawsuit against Florida’s new voting restrictions. 

Meanwhile: Three members of the Floirida retirement community THE VILLAGES were charged with voter fraud — two registered Republicans and one no-party-affiliation. 

But let’s remember: Voter fraud is astonishingly rare, as the Associated Press felt it was necessary to confirm once again. Accounting for all potential cheating in 2020, the difference doesn’t come anywhere close to Joe Biden’s margin of victory.
 

This simple truth doesn’t stop Republicans. In the name of preventing fraud, the SOUTH CAROLINA GOP now supports putting county election boards under the authority of the state, among other changes. 

The Latest In Election Sabotage

The conservative HERITAGE FOUNDATION has an “Election Integrity Scorecard” out, but as Votebeat reports, it is “extremely flawed in both its methodology and its conclusions.” 
 

TEXAS Attorney General Ken Paxton’s (R) voter fraud unit is expensive, unproductive, and getting a budget increase. 
 

But that operation doesn’t come close to FLORIDA Gov. Ron DeSantis’ proposed “Office of Election Crime and Security.” 
 

Voter fraud grifter and Mike Lindell posse member DOUG FRANK thinks Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson should be tried before a jury “capable of dispensing capital punishment.”

Reuters: The U.S. military men spreading Trump’s baseless fraud claims
 

‘WaPo: A real conflagration’: Wisconsin emerges as front line in war over the 2020 vote
 

‘Dallas Morning News: Prison gerrymandering’: How inmates are helping the Texas GOP maintain its power
 

Mother Jones: What if Media Covered the War on Democracy Like an Actual War?
 

NYT: Map by Map, G.O.P. Chips Away at Black Democrats’ Power

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