MADISON – In response to today’s public hearing on proposed Republican maps, Rep. Gordon Hintz (D-Oshkosh) released the following statement:
“The proposed Republican legislative map is built on the 2011 map, which is among the most gerrymandered in modern American history. In 2011, Republicans moved nearly 2.4 million voters into new Assembly districts, even though it was only necessary to move 320,000 to ensure balanced populations. Republicans chose who their voters would be in their districts with a goal of creating as many safe Republican seats as possible, in order to ensure a permanent Republican legislative majority regardless of changes in voter preferences in the state. They then made their members sign secrecy oaths, and instructed them to not share any details about their undermining of democracy in our state.
“Now, Republicans say that preserving the existing gerrymander is the biggest criteria for new legislative maps? What a disgrace. The “least change” criterion is nowhere to be found in the Wisconsin Constitution’s list of redistricting criteria. There is no legal framework that includes the stated priority in SJR 63. In fact, Wisconsin’s previous line-drawers have never tried to keep old districts intact. There is no traditional framework or past redistricting in Wisconsin that included the stated priority in SJR 63.
“By using a gerrymandered map as their starting point, by drawing new maps behind closed doors, and by relying on made-up criteria that has no basis in the law and has never been used by a legislature or a court before, Republicans are pulling out all the stops so they can keep ignoring the will of the voters.”
