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Wisconsin legislative map bill passes Assembly
The Wisconsin Assembly passed a legislative map plan Thursday, Sept. 14 that could change who you vote for or who controls the Legislature.
MILWAUKEE - The Wisconsin Assembly passed a legislative map plan Thursday, Sept. 14 that could change who you vote for or who controls the Legislature.
The bill comes as groups have asked the now progressive-majority Wisconsin Supreme Court to re-draw the maps.
In Milwaukee County, one street is divided into two legislative districts.
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"Just one house over is different," said Heidi Kenner, who lives in the 11th Assembly District. Her next door neighbors are in the 10th District. "It's just kind of bizarre to me."
Every other resident has a place somewhere on the legislative map, too. It determines who represents you in Madison and votes on the state's pressing issues.
Wisconsin Legislative map
"I think it would really change the character of elections in Wisconsin," said John Johnson, a Marquette University Law School Lubar Center research fellow. "I think a lot more seats would be competitive.
"The advantage the Republican Party has in the state Legislature would almost certainly still exist, but it would be much reduced and a really sort of strong blue wave year when Democrats do particularly well, they would actually probably have a shot at winning a majority of the state Assembly. Whereas right now, that's pretty unrealistic."
In a 50-50 state, recent presidential elections have been decided by less than a point. Still, under Republican-drawn maps, Senate Republicans are a supermajority and the Assembly Republicans are nearly one as well.
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The redistricting bill would give the Legislature's map-marking power over to a nonpartisan legislative reference bureau; Democrats have long called for a plan like it. The bill would require maps not favor a political party, someone or a group. Lawmakers would then vote on the maps before they go to the governor's desk for a signature or veto.
"One place where you'd expect to see a change is Sheboygan County, where right now the city of Sheboygan is split between the 26th and 27th Assembly Districts," Johnson said. "The new bill is pretty clear that you need to try your best to keep municipalities in one district, and so you would expect to see a district that's more fully just Sheboygan…that would probably be a more Democratic leaning district than the two that you see there right now."
Wisconsin Legislative map
On Kenner's divided block, it turns out the districts might stay split.
"We’ll be back there talking and stuff, and we realized we have different colored trash cans, and we’re like: ‘Wait a minute: You are Milwaukee, I am Glendale?’" she said. "We just we get along."
One Democrat voted with Republicans: State Rep. LaKeshia Myers (D-Milwaukee). The bill's fate in the Senate is unknown, and Gov. Tony Evers called the original draft of the bill "bogus."