The Common Council will complete its redistricting process by the end of the month, according to a schedule announced today by Alderman Ashanti Hamilton.
Alderman Hamilton, chair of the Judiciary and Legislation Committee, said the process will include public meetings (including a public hearing held before the Judiciary and Legislation Committee) where citizen review and input will be front and center. “This will be a transparent and public process involving feedback and review from the public at key junctures. All voices with input into the details will be heard,” he said.
The Legislative Reference Bureau has completed a draft election ward plan that is now under final review through November 15th, Alderman Hamilton said. The Common Council will hold a special meeting at noon on Wednesday, November 17th to approve the wards.
On Friday, November 19th a district boundary plan will be revealed during a 6 p.m. virtual town hall meeting hosted by Alderman Hamilton (link details to be announced soon).
A public hearing on a district map plan will be held at City Hall before the Judiciary and Legislation Committee at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, November 22, and the committee will then refer a district map plan to be considered by the full Council on Tuesday, November 23rd.
“By approving the election wards on November 17th we are allowing the Milwaukee County Board an opportunity to finalize its maps in a timely fashion,” Alderman Hamilton said.
The Common Council has created a modified and updated webpage (city.milwaukee.gov/redistricting) featuring key information that the public can access regarding the redistricting process.
The United States conducts a census of the entire population every 10 years. This information is used for many purposes, including the distribution of federal and state revenues and the drawing of boundaries for election districts at the federal, state and local levels.
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Counties are first required to develop a tentative supervisory district plan for their county boards. After that, municipalities are required to revise the boundaries of election wards and then their city council districts. Subsequently, school districts and the state Legislature are also required to update the boundaries of their election districts.
The usual timeline for local redistricting has been significantly altered by the delay of Census information. Local redistricting started getting underway in late August, after the State of Wisconsin distributed Census data to its 72 counties.
