SierraScape April - August 2017
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By John Hickey
Chapter Director, Missouri Sierra Club
State legislative districts in Missouri have been so gerrymandered that anti-environmental candidates are almost assured of winning control of our State House and State Senate. When incumbents create the district maps, they create maps which give them an unfair advantage.
To solve that problem, grassroots groups have developed and submitted a ballot measure that would reform the redistricting process by placing responsibility for the process with a non-partisan state demographer. If sufficient signatures are collected, and if the measure is passed by voters in November 2018, then the next round of redistricting in 2022 would be governed by these reforms.
The national Sierra Club has made fair elections a key priority - the Club helped launch the Democracy Initiative to tackle issues such as redistricting reform, voting rights, and campaign finance limits. If you are interested in getting involved in redistricting reform, please contact John Hickey at 314-644-1011 or john.hickey@sierraclub.org.