Dunn County Board supports nonpartisan redistricting

By LeAnn R. Ralph

MENOMONIE — We have it backwards in Wisconsin, says Steve Rasmussen, chair of the Dunn County Board.

“Politicians are picking their voters instead of the voters picking their politicians,” Rasmussen said at the Dunn County Board’s April 20 meeting.

Rasmussen was referring to the redrawing of legislative districts done in Wisconsin after the 2010 census.

The Dunn County Board unanimously approved a resolution supporting the creation of a nonpartisan procedure to prepare legislative and congressional redistricting plans.

A panel of federal judges from the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin ruled last November that the redistricting done in 2011 by Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled legislature was unconstitutional.

According to the ruling, the redistricting resulted in some districts with so few Democratic voters that they could never have enough votes to achieve a majority, and in other districts, so many Democratic voters were included that it limited their ability to control more seats in the legislature because their votes essentially did not count beyond a certain point.

The boundaries of federal and state legislative districts are redrawn every ten years following each census to ensure the districts contain approximately the same number of people.

Over the years, some partisan advantage in redistricting has been accepted by the courts.

A mathematical formula that compares the “wasted votes” of the two parties, Republican and Democratic, convinced two of the judges to rule in favor of the plaintiffs.

If both parties “waste” the same number of votes then the “efficiency gap” is considered to be zero.

But if the winning party wastes substantially fewer votes, then the efficiency gap becomes larger.

When the formula was applied, Republicans in Wisconsin had an efficiency gap of 11 to 13 percent.

The bigger the efficiency gap, the bigger the gerrymander to intentionally favor one political party.

In January, the three-judge panel ordered the Wisconsin Legislature to redraw the district boundaries by November of 2017 so the maps would be in place for the 2018 election.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice asked the federal Supreme Court in February to review the court order requiring the Wisconsin Legislature to redraw the districts.

According to the resolution supporting a nonpartisan procedure for redrawing the districts approved by the Dunn County Board April 20, the Wisconsin Legislature has already spent more than $2 million of taxpayer money defending the gerrymandered districts.

“The state and congressional districts belong to the citizens of Wisconsin and not to any legislature, interest group or political party. The redistricting process should not be a tool used by those in power to protect and bolster their power, but should be designed with the best interest of Wisconsin’s democracy and its citizens,” the resolution states.

“It is time to get past the bickering. We call on the Legislature to establish a nonpartisan process,” said Tom Quinn, county board supervisor from Downing.

“It is the way we want our state to operate,” he said, and noted that Iowa uses an effective system for redistricting.

In Iowa, a nonpartisan legislative service agency uses a computer program to redraw the districts based on population.

“Wisconsin’s historical practice of redistricting by the majority party in each legislative chamber is an outdated practice that stifles political competition, discourages compromise, ensures continued control by the party in power, and lacks the transparency necessary to reinforce citizens’ faith in the democratic process,” according to the resolution.

“Now, therefore be it resolved, the Dunn County Board of Supervisors calls upon the State Legislature, before the start of the next redistricting process following the 2020 federal census, to pass legislation that creates a fair, nonpartisan procedure for the preparation of legislative and congressional redistricting plans, that promotes more accountability and transparency, prohibits the consideration of voting patterns, party information and incumbents’ residence information or demographic information in drawing the maps, except as necessary to ensure minority participation as required by the U.S. Constitution,” the resolution states.

“Be it further resolved, the Dunn County Board of Supervisors advocates for an amendment to the Wisconsin Constitution giving the responsibility of legislative redistricting to a nonpartisan commission,” according to the resolution.

A copy of the resolution approved by the Dunn County Board will be sent to the governor, the Wisconsin Counties Association, the Wisconsin Towns Association, the Wisconsin League of Municipalities, all members of the state legislature and to each Wisconsin county.