Blog

In Wisconsin in state-wide elections sometimes Republicans win and sometimes Democrats win because we are what is politically called a purple state: 50% red (Republican) and 50% blue (Democrats) equals purple.

In 2016 Trump won the state- wide election by less than 1%. In 2020 Biden won the state-wide election by less than 1%. We have 1 Republican Senator and 1 Democrat Senator who are elected state- wide. Wisconsin is a purple state when there are state-wide elections.

But our state legislature, whose members are NOT elected by state-wide elections, is overwhelming Republican. Why? Redistricting.

Wisconsin has 99 state Assembly Districts. 64 of the 99 Assembly representatives are Republican (64%). Wisconsin has 33 state Senate seats. 22 state Senators are Republican (66%). The Republican majority in the state Legislature is not because more Republicans vote for a nominee but because of partisan redistricting. Partisan redistricting or gerrymandering (a topic for another column) is a type of redistricting for political advantage of one party over the other.

Article 1, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution empowers the Congress to carry out the census in “such manner as they shall by Law direct…” The census was enshrined in the Constitution to empower the people over their government. The plan was to count every person living in the United States of America, and to use that count to determine representation in the Congress. The genius of this idea was to take a tool of government and make it a tool of political empowerment for the governed over their government. America has had a census every 10 years since 1790.

Wisconsin’s State Constitution in Section 3 describing the duties of the Legislature says, “…the legislature shall apportion and district anew the members of the senate and assembly according to the number of inhabitants.” This section gives the legislature the duty to enact a redistricting plan after each federal census. The Republican majority Legislature could create a non-partisan Redistricting Commission.

Redistricting Commissions are fairly new panels designed to create fair, nonpartisan districts by empowering non-political members to draw fair lines that represent the interests of the public rather than politicians. Traditional redistricting principles include: Compactness, Continuity, Preservation of Communities of Interest, and Preservation of the Unity of Political Subdivisions. Sometimes these principles are not followed because of necessity or political power grabs.

Republican controlled legislatures in 2010 and 2020 drew Redistricting plans that did not take into account these redistricting principles. Behind a locked door in the Capitol Building, where only certain Republican legislators were allowed, a Redistricting map was created that only considered a Republican outcome in districts. In other words Wisconsin’s Redistricting Map is not purple, but extremely red. This type of partisan redistricting endangers the power of the governed to oversee their government (democracy) because how a district gets drawn decides who gets a voice in politics in this state and who doesn’t.

Redistricting in a fair, non-partisan way is essential for a healthy democracy. A non- partisan Redistricting Commission plan instead of a locked door, Republican-only plan that the legislature operates under now, could create fair redistricting in all of Wisconsin. A fair redistricting plan creates voting districts NOT based on predictable political outcomes. All voters need representation in their democracy so there is political empowerment over their government as the Founding Fathers intended when they wrote the U.S. Constitution.