Slay the Dragon

Slay the Dragon Logo

SLAY THE DRAGON follows everyday people, outraged by what they see as an attack on the core democratic principle that every person’s vote should count equally. This election year, we’re joining together with grassroots partners to put an end to gerrymandering. Because this issue impacts each state differently, we’ve created a map to help you navigate how gerrymandering affects your state and community. SLAY THE DRAGON arrives on demand April 3.

 

GET CAUGHT UP

Click on your state in the map above to find out what’s going on and how you can help.

We are partnering with organizations in Michigan, Colorado, Wisconsin to support the creation of non-partisan redistricting commissions to protect votes across the country.

Map of the United States of America

Click on your state in the map above to find out what’s going on and how you can help.

We are partnering with organizations in Michigan, Colorado, Wisconsin to support the creation of non-partisan redistricting commissions to protect votes across the country.

Slay the Dragon Logo

SLAY THE DRAGON follows everyday people, outraged by what they see as an attack on the core democratic principle that every person’s vote should count equally. This election year, we’re joining together with grassroots partners to put an end to gerrymandering. Because this issue impacts each state differently, we’ve created a map to help you navigate how gerrymandering affects your state and community. SLAY THE DRAGON arrives on demand April 3.

 

GET CAUGHT UP

Click on your state in the map above to find out what’s going on and how you can help.

We are partnering with organizations in Michigan, Colorado, Wisconsin to support the creation of non-partisan redistricting commissions to protect votes across the country.

Map of the United States of America

Click on your state in the map above to find out what’s going on and how you can help.

We are partnering with organizations in Michigan, Colorado, Wisconsin to support the creation of non-partisan redistricting commissions to protect votes across the country.

video thumbnail Slay the Dragon on demand April 3

Slay the Dragon

After the 2008 election, a secretive, well-funded partisan initiative poured money into state legislative races in key swing states to gain control of their redistricting processes and used high-tech analytics to dramatically skew voting maps based on demographic data. The result is one of the greatest electoral manipulations in U.S. history, one that poses a fundamental threat to our democracy and exacerbates the already polarized atmosphere in Congress and state houses across the country. 

Gerrymandering, the practice of redrawing electoral maps to serve the party in power, has been around for centuries. But in today’s hyper-partisan political environment it has been taken to unprecedented extremes, fueled by the elimination of corporate campaign contribution limits and the availability and targeted manipulation of vast amounts of personal information to achieve political power.

Voters, fed up with cynical efforts to sidestep the will of the majority, have begun fighting back. A grassroots movement led by a young woman with no prior political experience gathered hundreds of thousands of signatures to put an anti-gerrymandering initiative on the ballot in Michigan.

SLAY THE DRAGON shines a light on this timely issue, and follows a handful of citizens’ groups, outraged by what they see as an attack on the core democratic principle that every person’s vote should count equally, as they battle party operatives and an entrenched political establishment to fix a broken system. 

WHAT WE’RE UP TO IN MICHIGAN

We are partnering with Voters Not Politicians in Michigan to ensure communities across the state are signing up to be on the state’s first-ever Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission that allows for ordinary citizens (like us!) rather than politicians to draw the lines.

Map of Michigan

WHAT WE’RE UP TO IN MICHIGAN

We are partnering with Voters Not Politicians in Michigan to ensure communities across the state are signing up to be on the state’s first-ever Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission that allows for ordinary citizens (like us!) rather than politicians to draw the lines.

WHAT WE’RE UP TO IN COLORADO

Alongside All On The Line (AOTL), we will seek to educate and engage the Colorado community on redistricting and gerrymandering. Our key goals are to increase awareness of the state’s first Colorado Independent Commission and to inspire and increase application submissions from diverse audiences and statewide engagement for the hearing process.

Map of Colorado

WHAT WE’RE UP TO IN COLORADO

Alongside All On The Line (AOTL), we will seek to educate and engage the Colorado community on redistricting and gerrymandering. Our key goals are to increase awareness of the state’s first Colorado Independent Commission and to inspire and increase application submissions from diverse audiences and statewide engagement for the hearing process.

WHAT WE’RE UP TO IN WISCONSIN

Over the next couple of months, Participant is partnering with All on the Line Wisconsin and Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition to inform Wisconsinites about the impact of redistricting, create conversation and activism during this important census year, engage voters to encourage legislators/candidates to support nonpartisan redistricting and generate buzz for the People’s Maps Commission.

Map of Wisconsin

WHAT WE’RE UP TO IN WISCONSIN

Over the next couple of months, Participant is partnering with All on the Line Wisconsin and Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition to inform Wisconsinites about the impact of redistricting, create conversation and activism during this important census year, engage voters to encourage legislators/candidates to support nonpartisan redistricting and generate buzz for the People’s Maps Commission.

Screening Guide

Wherever you're gathering, this guide will provide you with the tips and suggestions you need to execute a successful screening. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Every 10 years, after U.S. census data is collected, states are legally mandated to redraw their electoral districts. This system was created to ensure that each district is equal in population size so that citizens are represented equitably - one person, one vote. But politicians often redraw districts in ways that benefit themselves, drawing boundaries that group same-party votes into districts that ‘can’t be lost’. When one party disproportionately benefits by how a district map is drawn, it’s known as gerrymandering.

Hailed a “moral game-changer” and “the most important political film of the year”, SLAY THE DRAGON shines a light on this timely and critical issue of gerrymandering. The film follows a handful of citizens’ groups in Michigan and Wisconsin, outraged by what they see as an attack on the core democratic principle that every person’s vote should count equally, as they battle party operatives and an entrenched political establishment to fix a broken system. 

Through the commitment and bravery of the advocates in the film - Katie Fahey, who formed Voters Not Politicians in Michigan; and the Wisconsin legal team that took the gerrymandering case to the Supreme Court last year - SLAY THE DRAGON shows us that, living inside each one of us, is a dragon slayer ready to take back our democracy.
 

Every ten years, states redraw district lines to ensure districts appropriately reflect their electorate. These lines have consequential bearing on political power, both locally and at the federal level, and largely determine which political issues take precedence and which communities are, or aren’t, represented. When political parties redraw the lines to fit their political interests, or gerrymander, local communities are deprived of meaningful representation, laws that are supported by the majority of voters might not get passed and elections can repeatedly be swayed toward one party. For more information about how gerrymandering is impacting your state, check out this map. If you want to join us in raising awareness about gerrymandering and supporting the organizations working to address it, host a private screening of SLAY THE DRAGON. Learn more here.

What we're talking about

video thumbnail Fair Maps Texas for Slay the Dragon Discussion

Fair Maps Texas for Slay the Dragon Discussion

Check out our conversation with Fair Maps Texas.

video thumbnail Fixing Bugs in Democracy: Organizing During a Pandemic

Fixing Bugs in Democracy: Organizing During a Pandemic

Check out Katie's conversation with Princeton Gerrymandering Project. 

STAY INSPIRED AND GET INVOLVED