Good History of WI gerrymandering: Slaying the Gerrymander Feb 6, 2014

Several good maps also. Now this issue will be heard in the U.S. Supreme court.


http://isthmus.com/news/slaying-the-gerrymander

Slaying the Gerrymander

The Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau maps nonpartisan redistricting
By David Michael Miller


February 6, 2014

Winning the governorship plus majorities in both houses in 2010, Republicans seized the golden opportunity to dominate the decennial process of redistricting the state as never before. They had new voter boundaries drawn up behind closed doors by private law firms that would be paid by taxpayers. GOP legislators were made to sign oaths of secrecy before they could view their own redrawn districts. Rushed to beat six state Senate recall elections, the maps were quietly signed into law by Gov. Scott Walker on election day, Aug. 9, 2011.

The new maps brought immediate lawsuits, as well as pointed rebukes from judges protesting the law firms' frivolous motions and withholding of evidence. One suit decried the disenfranchisement of more than 300,000 voters who would have to wait six years to vote for their state senator instead of the usual four. Another suit charged that the plan diluted Latino voting power.

Ultimately costing the state more than $2.1 million, the battle over the redistricting process resulted in two districts being revised to comply with the Voting Rights Act. Even then, the Government Accountability Board discovered the new maps to be rife with errors. Due to a GOP mandate that reversed the longstanding practice of local officials drawing their precincts first, thousands of voters were placed in the wrong districts.

Nevertheless, the gambit paid off for the Republicans, cementing electoral advantages that will last to 2021. They claimed five of eight congressional seats in 2012 despite winning less than half of the state's votes for Congress. They also won 55% of contested state Senate seats with only 45% of the vote, and 57% of Assembly races with 48% of the vote.

So it is hardly surprising that in the wake of such historic gerrymandering, there have been repeated calls from Democrats, newspaper editors, good-government organizations and even some Republicans for a transparent, nonpartisan redistricting process that provides for equal representation at a fraction of the cost. Two bipartisan reform bills currently before the Legislature, AB 185 and SB 163, seek to do just that by emulating the system of neighboring Iowa, the proven gold standard of drawing political boundaries fairly. ...............................







Tales of the gerrymander, 2011
Here is how the GOP strengthened its grip on Wisconsin state government.