FAIR MAPS NEVADA COALITION REACTS TO JUDGE RUSSELL’S RULING ON THE LEGAL CHALLENGE TO OUR BALLOT INITIATIVE’S DESCRIPTION OF EFFECT

Las Vegas–The Fair Maps Nevada coalition, which includes the League of Women Voters of Nevada and Indivisible Northern Nevada, thanks Judge Russell for his affirmative ruling on our ballot initiative, which allows us to move forward with our signature-gathering campaign. 

We also thank the plaintiff for helping us further clarify the summary of our redistricting reform amendment.  We want nothing more than to clearly communicate our intent to create redistricting transparency and to add checks and balances to the process. 

This is vital because we agree with former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, “There is a direct connection between gerrymandering and voter suppression…”^[1],

We have crafted a redistricting reform amendment, which stands intact, that addresses gerrymandering while holding the political parties in check by applying transparency to the redistricting process and by empowering independent voices in the map-drawing deliberations. We believe that Nevada does not need drastic measures or overly complicated rules to achieve our purpose, yet we also strongly argue that we must act now to avoid voter suppression in the future. 

“While the House of Representatives recently passed House Resolution 1, which mandates drawing congressional maps through independent redistricting commissions, and is co-sponsored by our three Democratic Representatives, Washington is simply moving too slowly. After the Rucho v. Common Cause ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court in June, we currently have no legal means to stop partisan gerrymandering if it appears in 2021, so we must act now” said Sondra Cosgrove, President of the League of Women Voters of Nevada.

As such, the Fair Maps Nevada coalition is extending an invitation to anyone who opposes gerrymandering to join us in our effort to enact redistricting reform to ensure voters have full confidence in our representative form of government.

Sign up for more information at https://forms.gle/rYErc7KxsS2x8r3B6

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^[1] Ari Berman, “The Courts Won’t End Gerrymandering.  Eric Holder Has A Plan To Fix It Without Them,” Mother Jones, July/August 2019 Issue, https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/07/the-courts-wont-end-gerrymandering-eric-holder-has-a-plan-to-fix-it-without-them/ (accessed December 20, 2019).