Evers signs into law new legislative maps

By Kim McDarison

Gov. Tony Evers this week signed into law a new set of Wisconsin legislative maps.

According to information released by the governor’s office on Monday, the enactment of the maps offered an opportunity for the governor to “keep a promise” he made to the residents of the state to “undo a decade of Wisconsinites living under among the most gerrymandered maps in the United States.”

The maps enacted Monday, the release stated, are legislative maps “as previously submitted to the Wisconsin Supreme Court and recently approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature with bipartisan support.”

The release further noted that the governor’s efforts “to secure fair legislative maps marks the first time in over fifty years that Wisconsin will have fair legislative maps enacted through the legislative process rather than through the courts.”

In the release, Evers said the enacting of the maps was not a victory for himself or any political party, but for the residents of the state, who, he said, have “spent a decade demanding more and demanding better of us elected officials.”

He continued: “I believe, as I’ve often said, that the people should get to choose their elected officials, not the other way around. And under the maps I’m signing … I am making good on that promise.”

The path to new maps

Maps signed into law by Evers this week were previously submitted by the governor to the Wisconsin Supreme Court for their consideration in redistricting litigation in “Clarke v. Wisconsin Elections Commission,” according to the release. 

An earlier release noted that the maps, dubbed “Fair Maps,” were submitted to the state’s Supreme Court on Jan. 12.

The governor was quoted in the January release as saying: “Wisconsinites don’t want Republican or Democrat maps because Wisconsin isn’t a red or blue state — we’re a purple state, and our maps should reflect that basic fact.”

Last October, the governor, who was represented by Attorney General Josh Kaul, filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, challenging the state’s legislative maps.

Through the filing of that motion, the governor became a party in the legislative redistricting litigation then pending before the court.

In October, within a release, the governor said: “Wisconsin deserves fair maps — not the gerrymandered maps we have now that I already vetoed two years ago …”

Kaul, too, was quoted in the release, saying: “The extreme gerrymandering of our legislative maps has shifted power from where it ultimately belongs — with the voters — to the legislators who have drawn the maps.”

Also in October, Kaul filed a brief on the governor’s behalf, asking the Wisconsin Supreme Court to declare Wisconsin’s legislative maps unconstitutional and institute new maps that avoid partisan bias.

He said the partisan bias in the maps had “infected” the maps “to the detriment of Wisconsin’s democracy.”

The brief argued that the court should declare the maps unconstitutional for “violating the constitution’s separation of powers” by adopting the exact legislative maps vetoed by Evers.

“The Legislature’s proposed maps perpetuated and likely worsened the existing partisan bias; they were vetoed by the governor,” the brief argued.

The governor argued that the maps were “clearly designed to benefit one political party over another and would preserve undemocratic majorities.”

Last December, according to the Jan. 12 release, the state Supreme Court found that the state legislative maps were “unconstitutionally noncontiguous.”

The court offered a process through which the litigating parties could propose maps and indicated it would consider several criteria when reviewing and evaluating the submitted maps.

Criteria, as held out by the court, was as follows:

• Whether the maps comply with population equality requirements; 

• Whether districts conform to Article IV of the Wisconsin Constitution, which requires districts to be compact and contiguous; 

• Whether the maps comply with federal law; 

• The degree of municipal splits and how maps preserve communities of interest, and 

• Whether maps have a partisan bias so the court can avoid “selecting remedial maps designed to advantage one political party over another.” 

The maps, as submitted to the court, were passed by the Wisconsin State Legislature, with bipartisan support, last week, according to Monday’s release. 

The release described the maps as “responsive to the will of the people,” while designed to avoid partisan bias, and increased the number of competitive legislative seats.

Additionally, the Monday release noted, the court had previously ruled that the legislative maps were unconstitutional, “leaving no legislative maps in place for the 2024 election.”

Maps enacted on Monday, “will take effect immediately after publication and will be in place for the fall election,” the release stated. 

Primary and general elections for Wisconsin Assembly and Senate seats will be held Aug. 13 and Nov. 5, respectively. A filing deadline for candidates is June 3. Assembly members serve two-year terms. State senators are elected to four-year terms. 

An earlier redistricting

Prior to Monday’s enactment, Wisconsin was using legislative maps which were adopted in April, 2022, when the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that legislative maps drawn by the Republican-controlled Wisconsin State Legislature would be used to define the Assembly and State Senate districts for a 10-year period.

The April ruling reversed an earlier decision, which was made by the Wisconsin Supreme Court and published in February, adopting legislative maps as submitted by Evers. 

The Supreme Court of the United States published its reversal of the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s February ruling in March, clearing the path for the adoption of maps drawn by the state Legislature on April 15, 2022.

What are the changes locally?

Changes brought about by redistricting in April, 2022, affected State Senate and Assembly districts including those then-encompassing the cities of Fort Atkinson and Whitewater, and the surrounding area. With new maps enacted Monday, voters will once again need to learn new boundaries before heading to the polls in August and November. 

Changes within districts affecting communities within the WhitewaterWise and Fort Atkinson Online readership areas, follow.