Impeachment threats. Removal from office. Extremists want to retain power in Wisconsin.

Over the past few weeks, a handful of extremist members of the Wisconsin State Legislature have been finding new ways to undermine Wisconsin’s democracy by threatening to impeach a newly elected Supreme Court justice and voting to oust Wisconsin’s nonpartisan top election official Meagan Wolfe.

These legislators do not care that Justice Janet Protasiewicz was elected by over 55% of Wisconsin voters, an 11-point margin from her opponent. They’ve decided that they want to impeach her before she even has a chance to decide any cases simply because she could be the swing vote on a case that could return fair maps to Wisconsin for the first time since 2010.

New voting maps could return democracy to the people of Wisconsin and make all legislative officials accountable to their constituents once again. This is something our democracy was built on, but certain extreme legislators see accountability to constituents as a road block for them to retain power.

Wisconsin residents support abortion rights, legal marijuana

Why are they afraid of losing power? Because some Wisconsin legislators ignore the will of voters on many key issues, knowing that gerrymandering will protect them from the consequences. For example, according to a Marquette Law School Poll, 69% of Wisconsin voters support weed legalization, but Wisconsin legislators refuse to legalize it.

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Over the past decade, 60% of Wisconsinites, on average, have supported abortion being legal in all or most cases but Wisconsin legislators ignored that. In 2019, 80% of Wisconsin voters said they supported expanding background checks on all firearm sales, including private and online sales but Wisconsin legislators ignored that.

Instead of responding to Wisconsin’s voters’ demands, earlier this year Wisconsin legislators passed a law that, with limited exceptions, prohibits a county or municipality from holding an advisory referendum, practically silencing Wisconsin voices in an official capacity.

Wisconsin State Legislature ignores will of the majority

Wisconsin is governed by a few legislators that are only accountable to a small percentage of their base. If the majority of the people in this state do not have a say over the laws and the people that represent them then democracy in Wisconsin is dead.

Letters to the Editor:Voters have spoken on Wisconsin Supreme Court. GOP should stop impeach Protasiewicz talk.

This is not about Protasiewicz, the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, or even Wolfe; it’s about reviving democracy in Wisconsin and giving back power to the people. Tell your legislators that you want them to honor Wisconsin voters and put impeachment talks to rest.

Jon McCray Jones is a policy analyst for the ACLU of Wisconsin.