• Home
  • Opinion
  • Quizzes
  • Redistricting
  • Sections
  • About Us
  • Voting
  • Events
  • Civic Ed
  • Campaign Finance
  • Directory
  • Election Dissection
  • Fact Check
  • Glossary
  • Independent Voter News
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. Redistricting>
  3. gerrymandering>

Meet the reformer: Bonnie Miller, still fighting an Arkansas gerrymander

Our Staff
October 30, 2020
Bonnie Miller of Arkansas Voters First and the League of Women Voters
Arkansas Voters First

Bonnie Miller spent months working to get a measure on next week's Arkansas ballot that would have turned the state's political map making over to an independent commission. Her Arkansas Voters First Campaign gathered the necessary 150,000 signatures but was stopped on very narrow grounds by the state Supreme Court, meaning redistricting for this decade will be a partisan exercise controlled by elected Republicans. But Miller says she's not giving up on bettering democracy in her adopted home state, where she runs the League of Women Voters chapter in Fayetteville and is on the staff of the state university's law school. Her answers have been edited for clarity and length.

What's the tweet-length description of your organization?

The League of Women Voters seeks to improve government and impact public policies through education and advocacy.


Describe your very first civic engagement.

I ran for student government in middle school in southern California — unsuccessfully! My platform was not great and centered around more pizza and establishing dress-up days at school. I used a Mr. Potato Head during my campaign speech. Don't ask.

What was your biggest professional triumph?

Chairing our Arkansas Voters First campaign. Leading a grassroots movement to establish people-powered fair maps in our state has been the highlight of my life. I've been able to work with so many wonderful people who are passionate about redistricting reform and move our state closer to that goal.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

And your most disappointing setback?

Having our ballot initiative disqualified based on a procedural technicality. We expected opposition but thought we would at least have the opportunity to campaign on the issue. Instead, the court removed our proposal from the November ballot despite our having met all of the requirements to get on. The secretary of state, who sits on the board of politicians responsible for drawing legislative districts, fought us every step of the way. This proves exactly why politicians should not have the power to draw districts and how far they're willing to go to keep it — including disenfranchising voters. We won't stop fighting for fair maps in Arkansas!

How does your identity influence the way you go about your work?

Having grown up in a biracial household, I've always been aware there are different realities for people of color and white folks living in America. Seeing first-hand how my Latinx family experiences democracy and engages with politics has directly impacted the issues important to me. I want to live in a country where all people are equally represented in their government. Gerrymandering undermines representative democracy, especially when done for purposes of diluting the votes of Black, Indigenous and other people of color.

What's the best advice you've ever been given?

Don't respond from a place of heightened emotion. For me, this is always a work in progress.

Create a new flavor for Ben & Jerry's.

Caturday: peanut butter ice cream with swirls of chocolate fudge and Trader Joe's dark chocolate peanut butter cups. The perfect Caturday treat.

What is your favorite TV show or movie about politics?

HBO's "Veep." Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Selina Meyer is brilliant.

What's the last thing you do on your phone at night?

Set my alarm. I usually check it at least three times before I fall asleep to make sure it's set.

What is your deepest, darkest secret?

I love to turn off the lights and dance alone to '90s pop hits in my house. You have to find joy where and how you can.

From Your Site Articles
  • Arkansas anti-gerrymander group joins fight for relief from signature ›
  • Arkansas redistricting reform blocked from November ballot - The ... ›
Related Articles Around the Web
  • Miller v. Thurston (Arkansas Redistricting Initiative) | Campaign ... ›
  • League of Women Voters Washington County, AR : Who We Are ... ›
  • COVID-19 Should Not Stop Us from Advancing Arkansas Fair Maps ... ›
  • Bonnie Heather Miller | School of Law Staff Directory | School of Law ... ›
gerrymandering

Want to write
for The Fulcrum?

If you have something to say about ways to protect or repair our American democracy, we want to hear from you.

Submit
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Follow
Contributors

Reform in 2023: Leadership worth celebrating

Layla Zaidane

Two technology balancing acts

Dave Anderson

Reform in 2023: It’s time for the civil rights community to embrace independent voters

Jeremy Gruber

Congress’ fix to presidential votes lights the way for broader election reform

Kevin Johnson

Democrats and Republicans want the status quo, but we need to move Forward

Christine Todd Whitman

Reform in 2023: Building a beacon of hope in Boston

Henry Santana
Jerren Chang
latest News

Manhattan grand jury votes to indict Donald Trump, showing he, like all other presidents, is not an imperial king

Shannon Bow O'Brien
12h

Your Take: The federal investigation of former President Trump

Our Staff
18h

I traveled to all 50 states to find solutions to America’s political division: Here’s what I learned on the ground

Ryan Bernsten
18h

COVID created an expanded social safety net; activists are now quietly working to bring it back

Davis Giangiulio
30 March

Banking, democracy & trust

Lawrence Goldstone
30 March

SVB’s newfangled failure fits a century-old pattern of bank runs, with a social media twist

Rodney Ramcharan
30 March
Videos

Video: What is it like to be Black in America? A first conversation about race starts here

Our Staff

Video: Can bipartisanship survive the rise of the independent voter?

Our Staff

Video: Ted Lasso cast at the White House press briefing

Our Staff

Video: The hidden stories in the U.S. Census

Our Staff

Video: We asked conservatives at CPAC what woke means

Our Staff

Video: DeSantis, 18 states to push back against Biden ESG agenda

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: How women are showing up for justice & democracy

Our Staff
30 March

Podcast: Harnessing the power of juries

Our Staff
28 March

Podcast: Partial truths & corporate fables

Debilyn Molineaux
David Riordan
27 March

Podcast: Risky business: More bank collapses ahead?

Our Staff
27 March
Recommended
Manhattan grand jury votes to indict Donald Trump, showing he, like all other presidents, is not an imperial king

Manhattan grand jury votes to indict Donald Trump, showing he, like all other presidents, is not an imperial king

Threats to democracy
Your Take: The federal investigation of former President Trump

Your Take: The federal investigation of former President Trump

Your Take
I traveled to all 50 states to find solutions to America’s political division: Here’s what I learned on the ground

I traveled to all 50 states to find solutions to America’s political division: Here’s what I learned on the ground

Big Picture
Video: What is it like to be Black in America? A first conversation about race starts here

Video: What is it like to be Black in America? A first conversation about race starts here

COVID created an expanded social safety net; activists are now quietly working to bring it back

COVID created an expanded social safety net; activists are now quietly working to bring it back

Government
Banking, democracy & trust

Banking, democracy & trust

Threats to democracy