Gov. Tony Evers has issued an executive order calling on the state legislature to convene on April 14 to pass a joint resolution proposing a constitutional amendment to ban gerrymandering in Wisconsin.
Gerrymandering is the deliberate manipulation of district voting boundaries to advantage one political party.
The following sentence would be added to the Wisconsin Constitution: “Districts shall not provide a disproportionate advantage or disadvantage to any political party. Partisan gerrymandering is prohibited.”
Penny Bernard Schaber, with the Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition, and a former Assembly representative, is urging voters to contact their legislators to demand they support the session.
The Joint Resolution would have to be passed by two consecutive sessions of the state legislature before it could be placed on the ballot for voters’ approval. It would pave the way for the next step in ensuring a nonpartisan process for drawing the voting maps.
During previous special sessions called by Evers, the Republican-controlled legislature simply gaveled in and gaveled out without taking any action. Whatever the legislature decides to do with this special session, Schaber thinks Evers’ proposal is the right one.
“I’m happy with what the governor is doing because it keeps it in the public eye, and it makes sure people are paying attention,” she said. “And it gives us a chance to tell our legislators: ‘Okay, here’s your chance. Don’t gavel in, gavel out, do your job.’”
Voting maps – then and now
The fight over Wisconsin’s voting lines began after the 2011 maps were enacted during the Scott Walker administration. Considered one of the most effective partisan gerrymanders in U.S. history, the maps allowed the Republicans to maintain near supermajorities for more than 14 years.
Schaber was in the Assembly from 2009 to 2015, when the gerrymandering fight began. She recalls Speaker Robin Voss telling her she would love the maps they’d drawn for her.
She bristled at the suggestion. “I didn’t need you to help me win the first time, and I don’t need it now,” she told him. “I think we should have competitive districts.”
That was the beginning of Schaber’s fight for fair maps. The maps were in place from 2011 to 2024. With incumbency largely guaranteed, Republicans had little incentive to compromise or work with Democrats.
The maps were litigated all the way to the Wisconsin Supreme Court – twice – where they were finally ruled unconstitutional. As a result, in February 2024, Evers signed new fair maps for the state Senate and Assembly.
The results of those redrawn districts were dramatic. With demographic advantages no longer artificially locked in, Republicans’ margin dropped from 29 seats to nine seats in the Assembly and from 11 to just four in the Senate.
Redistricting occurs every ten years after the census is completed.
Congressional maps seem likely to stay in place for now
The Congressional voting maps for the U.S. House of Representatives were left untouched, though those, too, are considered to give the Republicans a large, unnatural advantage. They have received an ‘F’ rating for fairness from the Princeton Gerrymandering Project. Of Wisconsin’s eight congressional districts, only two are represented by Democrats, despite a near-even split between Democratic and Republican voters in the state.
After a three-judge panel rejected the lawsuit challenging the Congressional maps, it seems unlikely those maps will change before the next redrawing in 2031, though another case is pending.
The voting maps that were redrawn in 2024 are merely a temporary fix. Unless a permanent solution is put in place, the district voting maps that will be drawn after the 2030 census may result in another gerrymandered map.
Next fight: An independent redistricting commission
An Independent Redistricting Commission supported by groups such as the Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition, Common Cause Wisconsin and the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin would take district map drawing out of the hands of partisan legislators and put it into the hands of non-partisan, disinterested parties.
For that to ever happen, it will require legislation first, followed by a Constitutional Amendment on the ballot for voters to approve or reject. Some form of independent or bipartisan commissions is used to draw maps in 21 states and is seen as the antidote to gerrymandering. As with all Constitutional amendments in Wisconsin, before it can be put on the ballot, it must first pass two consecutive sessions of the legislature.
For the past two years, Jane Benson, a member of the League of Women Voters, along with Bernard Schaber, has been traveling around Wisconsin advocating for the IRC and educating voters on what it would mean.
“It only happens, normally, once every 10 years, after a census,” Benson said. “So people don’t remember. That’s half a generation that goes by before the voting maps are redrawn. It’s not a great surprise that people don’t understand the process.”
Schaber and other members of the Fair Maps Coalition will present their latest efforts to the public on May 6 at 6:30 p.m. in the Mary Beth Nienhaus Room (Room C) at the Appleton Public Library.
“We’re making it clear: the courts alone can’t solve this,” Schaber insisted. “Without an Independent Redistricting Commission in place soon, we’ll face the same fight against gerrymandering after the 2030 census. This is the permanent fix Wisconsin needs.”
