'Wrong, immoral and anti-democratic' -- Wisconsin's voting maps get a public hearing [View all]

The Wisconsin Legislature held an eight-and-a-half-hour public hearing on voting maps for legislative and Congressional districts on Thursday — the first such hearing in more than a decade and the only one planned. Hundreds of members of the public packed the hearing room and spilled into two overflow rooms to give testimony and watch the proceedings in the Capitol, many wearing purple “fair maps” T-shirts.

The hearing of the Joint Committee on Government Operations and State Affairs began with testimony from Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, who introduced the Republican legislative leaders’ proposed maps, and continued with testimony from citizens, advocates and experts who overwhelmingly opposed them.

In a combative back-and-forth with Democrats on the committee, Vos said “Democrats have a problem winning in much of Wisconsin because your agenda is clearly out of step with the reality for most of Wisconsin,” and that President Joe Biden, Gov. Tony Evers, and other Democrats have won statewide races because they “break the law” in elections.

Vos said the Legislature relied on “classic redistricting principles” in drawing its new voting maps after the 2020 census. Among these, he said, was maintaining existing districts to “promote continuity of representation” and avoiding creating challengers to incumbents.

Read more: https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2021/10/29/wrong-immoral-and-anti-democratic-wisconsins-voting-maps-get-a-public-hearing/