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As I See It

Moving election date the ultimate gerrymandering

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The issue of gerrymandering has been in the news a lot in Wisconsin. The way that legislative boundaries were drawn after the last census was done to influence the outcome of the elections. The districts were gerrymandered in a partisan way to ensure republican candidates stood a better chance of winning the election. The deck was stacked before anyone even entered the voting booth. The issue became the subject of a legal fight that went all the way to the United States Supreme Court. Now our lawmakers are at it again. Republican leaders in Madison now want to move the date of Wisconsin’s 2020 presidential primary from April to March. The top Republican in the Wisconsin Senate, Scott Fitzgerald, admits that the date of the election could be moved, because doing so would benefit Supreme Court candidate Daniel Kelly. The thought is that democratic voters will be energized and turn out in the presidential primary to determine who should be the democratic candidate for President. A higher democratic turnout could hurt the chances of Kelly, a Scott Walker appointee, from winning his race. That is the ultimate form of gerrymandering. Manipulating the election not by adjusting voting districts, but by moving the date of the election, all to help one particular candidate. Our lawmakers should leave the elections alone, and let the chips fall where they may.

Scott Robert Shaw serves as WIZM Program Director and News Director, and delivers the morning news on WKTY, Z-93 and 95.7 The Rock. Scott has been at Mid-West Family La Crosse since 1989, and authors Wisconsin's only daily radio editorial, "As I See It" heard on WIZM each weekday morning and afternoon.

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