By Senator, Lena C. Taylor
State Senator Lena C. Taylor
Every ten years, legislative and congressional district boundaries are redrawn to account for population shifts reflected in the U.S. Census. Although those redrawn lines can give one party tremendous advantage over the other, the process has become a widely accepted and, in most cases, honorable undertaking. In our great state of Wisconsin, that process is handled secretly by the majority party.
Last week, a panel of three Federal Judges had halted the redistricting plan because Republican-drawn Assembly Districts 8 and 9 diluted the Latino vote in violation of the Voting Rights Act. The judges ordered the Legislature to redraw the 8th and 9th districts.
Senate Republicans refused to reconvene in order to fix the map, and instead they asked the judges to fix the problem. The State and the groups suing for justice warned federal judges Friday that lawmakers appeared unable to fix the map that violates the voter’s rights. I for one am disappointed by the Senate’s failure to lead. Once again, Republicans have refused to cooperate with state Democrats. I believe that we were more than capable of finding a just and reasonable compromise, but my colleagues from across the aisle seemed to disagree.
The Assembly map, passed by Republican-majority Legislature, was designed to marginalize Latino voters. The Latino immigrant rights group Voces de La Frontera filed suit claiming that the new maps drawn by the legislature violates Latino’s voting rights.
Experts on both sides agreed that before the Republican Legislature diluted the 8th Assembly District, which had once been home to a 52 percent Latino voter majority. After redistricting, that portion would be reduced to a mere 40.9 percent. Neither the new District 8 nor District 9 would continue have an effective Latino voting block, and this important minority’s vital democratic voice would have been silenced.
The diluting map was made in ignorance of social minorities’ voting rights. The Eighth District has historically produced the only Latino state legislators in Wisconsin . Moreover, the district has experienced a tremendous growth of Latino population – 70 percent statewide and around 40 percent in the Milwaukee area. The Republican- version map would not only restrict the voting rights of Latino citizens but also endanger the tradition of Latino political participation in Wisconsin.
The facts show that the map was passed without sufficient input from the public. It is said that limited Latino representatives in the Legislature were threatened during the process. If state Republicans would have taken the people’s voice into careful consideration, we won’t have to now face such an awkward moment to redraw the map.
Redistricting is an issue that needs a meaningful discussion and full consideration of different voices. Instead, state Republicans chose to keep the process secret, only to make the whole case a costly lesson. The court documents show that Michael Best and Friedrich’s, the private firm hired to draw the maps, charged the taxpayers nearly $400,000 for a nominally public and democratic process.
This is an awkward moment in terms of transparency in the state legislatures, especially considering the Republicans’ lack of enthusiasm towards sharing details of their dealings with Michael Best and Friedrich’s. The state of Wisconsin has prided itself over generations on openness and fairness, and I hope to we in the Legislature can continue to honor that tradition while moving forward in this on-going democratic crisis.
Now it’s the time for Legislators to stand up and end the hyper-partisanship that has been strangling the Senate’s work for over a year. Although I had called for State Legislators to come together to fix the map, it seems that that opportunity may have passed us by. As the State, Voces de la Frontera, and other interested parties move forward to find a solution, let us remember that the Legislators of Wisconsin had been given a task and have failed. I pledge to work unceasingly to ensure that we will not do so again.