Madison – Today, the Wisconsin Assembly passed the proposed Republican legislative and congressional maps along party lines. The Senate passed these maps on Monday November 8th. Representative Dave Considine (D-Baraboo) released the following statement on the passage of these maps:
“Today I voted against the congressional and legislative maps put forward by legislative leaders. These maps continue to disenfranchise the people of Wisconsin by deepening the gerrymandering already in place. Over the past ten years, we have seen the effects of gerrymandering on our state. The will of the people has been ignored time and time again. By rigging the maps, elected officials in our state are often shielded from real competition in their districts. Our state needs competitive maps to ensure the people of Wisconsin can hold their elected officials accountable for their actions and inactions.
“Our state needs to implement a nonpartisan, transparent redistricting system, like the Iowa model. I am encouraged that our state created a nonpartisan commission this time around. However, I believe this model could be better executed if we had a nonpartisan redistricting system written into law. I continue to advocate for Assembly Bill 395 to receive a public hearing which would require that the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau draw the legislative map, similar to the system implemented in Iowa. Just last week Marquette published a poll that showed 63% of people in Wisconsin thought redistricting should be handled by a non-partisan commission.
“I am continually encouraged by the continued advocacy by my constituents and the people of Wisconsin. The public hearing for these maps only highlighted the will of the people, when zero individuals testified in favor of the maps. We must continue to speak up against gerrymandering in our state, so that we can continue to improve this great state and in turn improve the lives of all Wisconsinites.”
