Campaign Legal Center (CLC) is organizing a social media testimonial campaign on April 30—#OurFairMaps Day—to raise awareness about fair redistricting in 2021.
Maps will be redrawn this year, and CLC wants to encourage people to get talking on social media on about why redistricting and Fair Maps matter to them.
CLC’s goal: to ask people and organizations—of all backgrounds, regardless of whether they are currently engaged in advocacy for fair representation—to post a short (~1 minute long) selfie-style testimonial video on social media on April 30 posting with the hashtag #OurFairMaps, explaining why they support fair maps and why it matters to them. (See below for video examples and for more detailed instructions on how to participate).
CLC is primarily organizing on Twitter, but participants can also post on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn if they prefer, and CLC will look for posts on those platforms.
We hope you can join us in this campaign and share a 1-minute video on social media on April 30 using the hashtag #OurFairMaps. Please also help us spread the word, and feel free to share this with others who would like to support Fair Maps.
April 30 is supposed to be the date the Census Bureau will announce population data that will determine which states gain or lose congressional seats in the next Congress.
CLC has produced two sample videos to give you examples for the #OurFairMaps videos. One video features CLC Senior Legal Counsel, Redistricting, Annabelle Harless, and the other video features Bob Rogers, a Virginia resident.
Virginia voters recently approved a constitutional amendment to create an independent redistricting commission (IRC) for the state, to ensure politicians aren’t picking their voters through map manipulation.
CLC has also created a sample video template, too, to give you a sense of the #OurFairMaps videos (see below).
How to participate on April 30:
- Record a video (about 1 minute long) using your personal device (for example, your phone camera or a webcam). Twitter usually forbids videos longer than 2 minutes, 30 seconds.
- Log on to Twitter (or Facebook, LinkedIn, or Instagram if you prefer).
- Go to create a tweet or post.
- Before posting, add your video (for example, on Twitter, there is a picture icon that serves as a button to upload media; you can click on that and then upload from your device).
- Before posting, in the text of your tweet or post, add the hashtag #OurFairMaps.
- Post on April 30. That's it! And let others know about it!
If you have any questions, you may send an email to Campaign Legal Center.
We hope you can participate and help raise awareness about Fair Maps on April 30!
Sample Template:
Introduction: “Hi, my name is...” and share which state you live in (e.g. Virginia, Illinois).
Say that you care about Fair Maps, and include a brief description of what that means, like “...which means that legislative maps are drawn fairly, so politicians aren’t choosing their voters.”
Share why you care about Fair Maps. Examples could include:
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Fair Maps ensure that my voice is represented.
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Fair Maps ensure that political leaders can be held accountable to my community.
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Fair Maps are important to making progress on issues I care about.
Share the state of redistricting in your state. For example:
In Virginia, voters approved a constitutional amendment to the state constitution to create an IRC. This is a good policy.
In Wisconsin and Illinois, partisan gerrymandering remains a problem.
If the situation is good in your state, talk about the benefits and why every state should have an IRC or related protections. “Everybody should have redistricting done this way.”
If the situation is not good, share that, and explain why Fair Maps are crucial for your state in 2021.
End with:
“...and that’s why we need Fair Maps in 2021.”