(MILWAUKEE, WI) – Last night, Voces de la Frontera sent a letter to Mayor Barrett on behalf of Voces’ Redistricting Commission that included nine proposed ward maps that all increase the Latinx population in Aldermanic District 13 to either a plurality or absolute majority, ranging from 47% up to 53%.  These maps would all create a third aldermanic district in the heart of Milwaukee’s Latinx community. Creating this new third Latinx district would maintain the supermajority Latinx districts 8 and 12, with population percentages of 69% and 70% respectively.

 

These maps, drawn by UWM Professor Matt Petering, comply with all legal requirements regarding contiguity and no deviation greater than +-5% from ideal/equal district populations.

 

The letter that Voces sent the Mayor last night followed a letter they sent to him on November 26th demanding that the Mayor veto the maps approved by the Common Council on November 23rd that included two Latinx “influence districts” with only 25.6% and 28.1% Latinx population each.   Voces de la Frontera offered this range of maps in their most recent letter to demonstrate the choices available to the Common Council, and to show that it is possible to create a third solid majority Latinx aldermanic district on the farther south side below Aldermanic Districts 8 and 12 without disturbing the supermajorities of Latinx voters in those districts.

 

Christine Neumann-Ortiz, Executive Director of Voces de la Frontera, said: “Last year, Voces de la Frontera actively worked during a pandemic and under a hostile administration to encourage Latinxs to participate in the census so that new districts would reflect the importance of Milwaukee’s growing Latinx community for the next ten years.  The maps we are proposing clearly recognize the scale, movement and growth of the Latinx community in Milwaukee.  We call upon Mayor Barrett to veto the map approved by the Common Council last week, which needlessly split the Latinx voter population into Aldermanic districts 11, 13, and 14 rather than attempting to combine the Latinx majority on the farther south side.”

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