Precise returns from the 2020 U.S. Census came late this year, which means state and local officials have a compressed timeline for redrawing legislative, supervisory and aldermanic maps. That process needs to be completed quickly, as the spring 2022 elections are right around the corner.
Ben Zellers, a Madison city planner, says that a compressed timeline also means less time for public input.
“We’re trying to do as much as we can with the time we have, realizing that we need to have these new districts in place in time for people to circulate nomination papers in December for the spring 2022 elections,” he says.
Madisonians can offer input on new aldermanic districts by visiting their local libraries in the next week, by checking out an online redistricting map, or by attending one of two virtual redistricting information meetings on Sept. 22 at noon and 6 p.m.
“And then we’re always accepting comments, thoughts and feedback through our redistricting@cityofmadison.com email address,” Zellers says.
According to census returns, Madison has grown unevenly in the past decade.
City council districts currently range from 11,600 residents to 18,500 residents. To average out, each of the city’s twenty districts needs to contain about 13,700 people post-redistricting.
That number also takes into account the roughly 5,000 person population increase that will occur when portions of the Town of Madison are absorbed by the City of Madison on Halloween 2022.
Brian Grady, the city’s Principal Planner, says Madison’s less-populated districts will likely change the most. He says that, in the more densely populated downtown area, districts can change by just a few blocks.
“Some blocks in the downtown area include almost 2,000 people. In other parts of the city, 2,000 people might be an entire neighborhood. So the maps are going to look a lot different in areas outside of downtown,” he says.
Dane County’s redistricting commission has also been reviewing supervisory district maps submitted by members of the public. Brian Standing, a WORT contributor and Senior Dane County Planner, says the deadline for folks to submit new maps has passed.
But Standing says there’s still other opportunities for folks to get involved in county-level redistricting.
“We had a number of submissions, well over a dozen made the cut and are going to be reviewed at our public hearing this Thursday, Sept. 23rd, at 7:00 p.m.,” he says. “Then the commission will be making a final selection of three maps to recommend to the County Board on September 30th, and then there will be public hearings in front of the county board in October.”
The city council is tentatively set to approve the new maps in early November. County supervisory maps will be approved and adopted shortly afterwards.
Meanwhile, as local leaders rush to finish their redistricting, Wisconsin’s state lawmakers are already duking their redistricting battle out in court. A flurry of lawsuits from both sides of the aisle have been flooding state and federal courts, as part of a decennial tradition in Wisconsin politics.
Last time around, a lawsuit challenging Wisconsin’s legislative maps went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
PHOTO: Jonah Chester
