Despite winning the legal challenge against the Fair Maps Nevada description of effect, the prevailing attorney filed an appeal with the Nevada Supreme Court.
We are asking for the appeal to be dismissed and for sanctions.
You can read the appeal here:
Jackson v. Fair Maps – Case Appeal Statement
You can read our response here:
Thanks to everyone who attended our Feb. 15th community meeting on Domestic Violence. We heard from three awesome speakers who communicated with us from their hearts.
Evelyn Pacheco told us about her journey out of an abusive relationship and into the pipe-fitter’s union, she was the first black woman to become a licensed plumber in Nevada. Evelyn is now paying forward her good fortune to other women going through similar circumstances through Women in Trades. Women in Trades is a nonprofit that prepares women to take the skills and aptitude test required by most apprenticeships.
You can read more here: https://www.nevadawit.org/
Sybrina Bernabei introduced us to Gender Justice, a nonprofit that uses an intersectional approach to changing laws and policies that negatively impact the LGBTQiA community. Sybrina helped us understand how to be more in-tune with abuse in LGBTQiA relationships and offered to include anyone seeking to become a better ally in her upcoming training sessions.
You can read more about Gender Justice here: http://genderjusticenv.org/
Maria Nieto from Mi Familia Vota shared her understanding of our undocumented community and domestic violence. It can be very frightening for someone who is undocumented to report violence against them due to wanting to avoid being arrested too. Mi Familia Vota is a trusted community partner that works to help these women and men get away from an abusive relationship safely.
You can read more about Mi Familia Vota here: https://www.mifamiliavota.org/where-we-are/nevada/
We also reviewed the events coming up over the next month, here are the details for each event:
On Thursday, February 20th, please join us for a screening of the new documentary film Uncivil War: US Elections Under Siege
The showing is at the Eclipse Theater, doors open at 6 pm, and admission is free. RSVP here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/uncivil-war-las-vegas-premiere-tickets-92264402311?aff=ebdssbeac
On Sunday, February 23rd, please join us for a Vegas City Opera, Voices of Women, celebration of Coretta Scott King. The League of Women Voters of Southern Nevada is sponsoring this event, so admission is free. The event is at the Summerlin Library and Performing Arts Center and it starts at 3 pm. More information: https://www.facebook.com/events/1595521237254881/?active_tab=about
On Saturday, March 14th, please join the League of Women Voters of Southern Nevada and the College of Southern Nevada Women’s Alliance for our Status of Women Symposium. The event will be at the West Charleston Campus, in the Student Union, starting at 9 am and ending at 3 pm. A light breakfast and full lunch will be served. We will have four panels: 1. Women Breaking Barriers 2. What is Privilege? 3. Taking Care of Your Mental Health Needs 4. Why Women Bully Each Other (and how to stop).
The event is open to everyone, so if you’d like to spend the day with us, please RSVP here: https://www.facebook.com/events/459797877994453/
Sunday, March 15th, the League of Women Voters of Southern Nevada is sponsoring a second Voices of Women production with the Vegas City Opera on Sojourner Truth. This event will be at the Windmill Library Auditorium, is free, and starts at 3 pm. You can learn more about the event at: https://www.facebook.com/events/1125482341131332/
Saturday, March 21st, is our League of Women Voters of Southern Nevada’s Meet the Judicial Candidates Forum at the CSN North Las Vegas Campus, in the Student Union, 8:30 to 11:00 am.
We are inviting all the judicial candidates and the public to participate in this event. We will review the different types of courts, questions judicial candidates cannot answer, and good questions to ask judicial candidates. Most of the event will be spent engaging with the candidates in three minute sessions. With 60 judicial candidates on the ballot, League hopes to do everything possible to encourage voters to engage with and vote for the judges.
Anyone who would like to participate, can register here (we have the Election Department’s spreadsheet with all the candidates and their filed office, so we know which seat each candidate has filed for) https://www.eventbrite.com/myevent?eid=92160878669
And, lastly, the League of Women Voters of Southern Nevada is co-sponsoring Tea with Alice and Me, a one-woman-play by Zoe Nicholson. The play is March 28th, 5:00 to 8:00 pm, at the Clark County Library, 1401 East Flamingo Road, LV NV 89119. You can purchase tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tea-with-alice-and-me-tickets-88587073321?fbclid=IwAR0tpagiVaNID6Mqs7DxmkFJfp2GdcYUAw2OG7dBp0ooaM_TI6T-Fz1pLP0
A reminder that the League of Women Voters of Southern Nevada Behavioral and Mental Health Committee meets the third Tuesday of each month to work on our workforce development agenda, which you can read more about here: https://lwvnvblog.org/mental-and-behavioral-health/ Please email info@lwvsn.org for more information on attending.
Please consider inviting your friends and family to become a League member: http://lwvsn.org/membership.html
To answer questions about the 2011 redistricting maps here is Governor Sandoval’s Veto Message from his veto of one of the Democratic maps drawn during the legislative session:
Some are disputing the fact that the final congressional map drawn by special masters was clearly different from the two Democratic maps vetoed by the Governor. The top two maps are the vetoed maps, while the bottom map is the final congressional map drawn by the special masters.
A new non-profit is empowering the public to uncover and expose gerrymandered redistricting maps through an open-source tool.
Representable: We are an open-source tool that maps communities across the US. States, nonprofits, and journalists can use our data to test districts for gerrymandering.
Visit the website here: https://representable.org/
A new redistricting institute at the The Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is now offering free services to redistricting commissions. The Institute for Computational Redistricting is using computational technology to make the redistricting process more transparent and accountable to voters.
The Institute’s mission aligns with the Fair Maps Nevada transparent redistricting reform amendment.
“ICOR’s mission is to provide transparent approaches for redistricting grounded in computational methods, which serves the needs and values of the people. Their vision is for governments and legislative bodies to adopt transparent redistricting processes that empower all voters to express their choices for the elected officials who will represent them. As such, to have the greatest impact, ICOR offers its services, at no cost, to any state agency or commission seeking assistance with their redistricting process.
“When legislators pick their voters, rather than voters electing their legislature, we are a weaker nation.” Jacobson noted. “Creating a computational environment for transparent redistricting is a huge leap forward in combating gerrymandering and empowering voters within our democratic system.”
https://cs.illinois.edu/news/computational-redistricting-drawing-maps
Everything you need to know about elections in Clark County
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).
