HELPFUL TIPS FOR WRITING THE CORPORATIONS COMMITTEE
IMPORTANT:
- You’ll write your message in the text box on Step 2, where it says “Personalize your message.”
- Your message will be sent separately to each member of the Legislature’s Joint Corporations Committee.
- Don’t click the “Send message” button until you write your message.
- REMEMBER TO DELETE THE TEXT THAT SAYS “[DELTE THIS TEXT AND INSERT YOUR MESSAGE HERE]”
Have questions? Check out this video tutorial about using Better Wyoming forms to email legislators.
YOUR MESSAGE SHOULD HAVE THREE SHORT PARTS:
1. Say who you are.
Make sure to tell them that you’re a voter in Laramie County.
My name is ____. I’m a voter in Cheyenne.
2. Say what you want.
I’m writing today to ask that you redraw Laramie County’s voting districts to better represent its residents.
OR
I’m writing today because Southside Cheyenne deserves better representation in the Legislature, including its own State Senator.
3. Say why you want it.
[This is where you can add a sentence or two about why redrawing Cheyenne’s voting districts is important to you. See talking points below.]
PRO TIPS
Keep it brief: Lawmakers get tons of emails. If you write them a novel, they’re not going to read it.
Change the message subject: This will let them know your email is not spam.
TALKING POINTS
Maybe mention a few of these things in your message. Read this article (and watch the video!) for background information.
Partisan gerrymandering
- Roughly a quarter of voters in Laramie County are Democrats, and 15 percent are registered Indepedent. But 100 percent of the Laramie County delegation is Republican.
- This is purely because of gerrymandering. According to 2018 election data, there is a huge block of Democrat-voting precincts in the center of the city, but they are split into five separate House districts.
Racial gerrymandering
- According to the 2020 census, roughly 15 percent of Laramie County is Latino. The lion’s share of these folks live in a cluster of neighborhoods in Southside Cheyenne. But this community is divided between four House districts, splitting the Latino vote.
- Not a single senator in the Legislature lives in Southside Cheyenne. But the districts could be easily redrawn to have two House districts and one Senate district on the Southside.
- The U.S. Supreme Court and the 1965 Voting Rights Act say that when communities of interest exist according to racial lines, lawmakers should draw voting districts to ensure minority communities have representation.