Voice

⚠️ Stop what you are doing right now.??? We have some crucial information to share that impacts every freedom loving Montanan on any issue but also for future MTHFR endorsed legislation. Legislative House district boundaries are going to be re-drawn this year. If some of the proposed maps (1) get selected, we would lose significant Republican House and Senate seats to Democrats. If that happens you can forget about passing bills on medical freedom and parental rights! It is game over.

This post will provide easy and quick actions for people in Gallatin County to take followed by an a more detailed overview of what is going on! Future posts will include info on Cascade County, Billings and upcoming zoom options.

⏳ CALL TO ACTION: Thurs Sept 1
We need hundreds of people that can show up in person Thurs Sept 1 to say at the very minimum that you oppose Proposed maps #2 and #3. If you can and would like to form a few sentences more please read on.

Anytime between 1 pm – 5 pm
& 6:30 pm – 9 pm
MSU Asbjornson Building Inspiration Hall
West Grant Street Bozeman, MT 59715

? OVERVIEW: MT is legally obligated to re-draw state legislative maps every 10 years. There are specific rules and guidelines that these maps need to meet. But overall, they are drawn based on population density with the goal to have similar number of voters for each House district that are also contiguous of the communities they are in.

How the maps are drawn is important because it determines if your elected officials will be representative of Montana’s communities or not. Republicans have fought to protect and gain Republican seats via voter engagement but the Democrats are using the redistricting process to minimize Republican voters by gerrymandering.

There is a State Redistricting Commission that was formed under the Bullock administration. The Commission is made up of 2 Democrats, 2 Republicans, and 1 “non-partisan” person who Chairs the Commission. The Chair (Maylinn Smith) was appointed by the MT Supreme Court, and she is for sure liberal. She’s also a lawyer. She’s the tie vote and the ONLY vote that matters.

? MAIN POINT: The MT Constitution requires that districts are “compact” and “contiguous”. (Article 5, Section 14) Maps #2 & #3 violate the MT Constitution. Instead of keeping the downtown core and University area together, Maps #2 & #3 cannibalize these areas and redistribute them across 9 districts, which include a number of rural voters. This results in trust-fund transplants and transitory University students being mixed in with farmers, ranchers, and families who have lived in Gallatin Valley for 5 generations. These maps effectively disenfranchise and obliterate the voice of the rural voter.

Maps 2 and 3 are the failed and insulting Democrat maps. Maps 1 and 4 are the balanced Republican maps.

The ONLY map which meets the legal requirements is Map 4. But we don’t need to endorse any maps. All we need to do is to point out the critical flaws in the Democrat maps #2&3. There are laws, criteria, and goals (2) for related to redistricting and the Democrats have broken those precepts in the maps they have drawn. Our message is to point that out.

Sources:

(1) Proposed maps: https://mtredistricting.gov/state-legislative-maps-proposed-by-the-commission/

(2) Laws and criteria for the maps: https://mtredistricting.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/adopted-criteria-state-legislative-dac-july-2021.pdf