Letters To The Editor

Steve Tesmer, Fort Atkinson
Wisconsin is a classic “purple state,” split nearly 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans. In statewide elections, sometimes Republicans win and sometimes Democrats win, but for more than a decade, Republicans have held strong control of both houses of the state legislature, thanks to the gerrymandered district lines they drew in 2011.

Leslie LaMuro, Fort Atkinson
The April 4, 2023 election in Wisconsin is critical to democracy, don’t sit this one out. Each community has important local school boards or city officials on the ballot; however the vitally important statewide election is for the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Vicki Wright, Fort Atkinson
Gerrymandering is when a political group changes a voting district to hurt another group or work to their advantage.  Wisconsin is known for some of the most gerrymandered state legislative maps in the country.  All of us have the right to have fair voting maps which are not based on maneuvering lines to a political party’s advantage.

Jim Marousis, Fort Atkinson
The April 4 election for Wisconsin Supreme Court presents a clear choice.  Judge Janet Protasiewicz has stated that she favors Fair Maps and voting rights.  Wisconsin Republicans have used gerrymandered districts and voter suppression to retain power in state politics since 2010.  They have failed to deliver for the state’s residents.

Diane King, Fort Atkinson
As I watch another cycle of bitter partisan commercials, this time for the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, I wonder if we are really as divided as a state and a nation as we are led to believe. Are our neighbors, the casual acquaintances we meet at the grocery store or local restaurant really our enemies…

Steve Bower, Lake Mills
Shortly after the U.S. Supreme overturned the guaranteed constitutional right to abortion in the Dobbs v. Jackson decision last summer, Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin were swift to take up the war on women by restoring the state’s near-total abortion ban from 1849.

Leslie DeMuth, Lake Mills
We all want the freedom to care for our families and thrive in safe communities. But profoundly undemocratic voting maps, backed by a narrowly conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court, have allowed unresponsive legislators to remain safe in their gerrymandered seats.

Jim Pick, Fort Atkinson
Today there are politicians who want to tell medical schools what they can and cannot teach. There are politicians who want to tell doctors what they can and cannot do regarding women’s health.

Lynn Armentrout, Lake Mills, WI
My grandfather was a proud Wisconsinite, WWI veteran, and Democrat. If he were alive today he would be appalled to learn his vote would have less weight in local elections because of Wisconsin’s legislative maps, among the most gerrymandered in the nation.

Jim Marousis, Fort Atkinson
The votes have been counted in the Wisconsin Supreme Court primary election and Judge Janet Protasiewicz garnered 49% of the vote heading into the April 4 election to choose a new justice for the court.