State GOP Lawmakers Continue to Push "Iowa-Style" Redistricting Bill

Sunday, October 22nd, 2023 -- 11:00 AM

(By Anya van Wagtendonk, Wisconsin Public Radio) GOP lawmakers continue to push a plan that would change the process for redistricting in Wisconsin as critics argue it contains a glaring loophole that would clear the way for future Republican gerrymanders.

According to Anya van Wagtendonk with Wisconsin Public Radio, the GOP bill received a public hearing in the Senate on Thursday, a month after it passed the Assembly without public input.

Instead of giving the Legislature the first crack at drawing Wisconsin's maps every 10 years, the bill would implement a model in which the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau, or LRB, would draw drafts of redistricting plans according to certain requirements.

The Legislature would still have to approve them. The maps determine which district a voter lives in, which determines their representation in the state Senate and Assembly at the Capitol.

The plan was introduced in September, and comes as a legal challenge to the existing maps, which could result in them being tossed out and redrawn, is pending before the state Supreme Court.

Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Committee on Shared Revenue, Elections and Consumer Protection sparred Thursday over what each described as the others' inconsistencies in supporting nonpartisan redistricting, while government accountability groups and individual activists testified for hours.

Democrats have called for an "Iowa-style" process for years, but do not support this proposal, which differs from previous versions. They say it contains loopholes to allow the Republican-dominated Legislature to control the process and maintain their hold on state power.

Republicans argue that leaving the process in the hands of courts, as it may be, depending on how the high court decides the pending lawsuit, violates the role that the Legislature as a body is supposed to play in deciding how representation is allocated.

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