Redistricting Advisory Referendum On The Ballot In 11 Wisconsin Counties

By ANGELINA MOSHER SALAZAR

Voters in Kenosha County, Jefferson County and a handful of other counties and municipalities in Wisconsin are seeing a question on their Nov. 3 general election ballot asking about redistricting, or the redrawing of political maps.

The advisory referendum asks:

Should the Wisconsin legislature create a nonpartisan procedure for the preparation of all district maps at all levels of government: federal, state, county and municipal in the State of Wisconsin?

Every state has to go through the redistricting process based on the new numbers for the decennial census, but how it is done varies from state to state.

Gerrymandering is the process of drawing political districts in a manner that favors one political party. In recent elections, voters in 17 Wisconsin counties, and in more than a dozen municipalities, have spoken out against the process. They’ve answered an advisory question on whether the Legislature should ban gerrymandering and adopt a process of independent, nonpartisan redistricting. In every county the question was posed, voters answered with an overwhelming “yes.”