Wisconsin Supreme Court hearing offers hope for restoring fair election maps | Opinion

Today's hearing before the Wisconsin Supreme Court represents the best chance at restoring fair maps for the State Legislature in more than a decade. An extreme partisan gerrymander has transformed Wisconsin, with a population evenly split between the two major parties, into a state with a veto-proof majority in the legislature for the Republican Party.

This case matters immensely, because Wisconsin’s maps affect every level of government. Misshapen district lines are particularly dramatic in cities like Wausau, a community of about 40,000 people nearly 150 miles north of Madison, where one of us is mayor. 

The current map favors rural and exurban areas over urban areas, leaving the more diverse residents of cities underrepresented and their municipal needs disfavored. That’s why we teamed up to file a friend of the court brief and share the experience of local government operating under this gerrymander. The ability of local leaders to set policy responsive to the needs and desires of constituents is at stake in this case.     

Legislators in Madison overrule local citizen control

In recent years, local efforts to provide stronger protections for workers, renters, and residents have been thwarted by state laws passed by the legislature. These laws, which are best described as “abusive preemption,” demonstrate a pattern to snuff out local initiatives prior to them taking hold, and without any evidence of harm or impact to statewide programs. Instead, this legislation often reflects policy preferences of industry over residents, and an  effort to maintain partisan advantage. 

Redistricting maps by humans failed.Powerful algorithms could do better.

For example, cost of living is a critical concern for communities across the country, including in Wisconsin. Wage protections, especially the minimum wage floor, can help ensure that a city's working residents do not struggle to pay their bills. But the statewide minimum wage, which has not increased since 2009 and stands at $7.25, is way too low. An hourly worker at that rate cannot reasonably afford rent in many Wisconsin cities.

The legislature prevented local governments from raising the minimum wage floor. In 2017, Milwaukee County sought to implement modest wage raises for workers employed by or affiliated with the county. In response, the state legislature passed Act 327 of 2017, which stopped Milwaukee County, and other localities, from raising wages to $15 an hour over four years.

Sometimes, public discussion of a local initiative is all it takes for the legislature to lash out at cities. When some cities announced efforts to consider the reduction of the use of plastic bags in their jurisdictions, the state legislature placed a “ban on bans” limiting cities’ ability to regulate plastics and other one-use materials.

Abusive preemption has harmed communities in myriad ways. It has stopped local regulation of ride-share companies, banned local regulation of firearms, prevented the establishment of public broadband, and prohibited the creation of regional transit authorities. One act of the legislature in 2013 invalidated approximately 25 Madison housing ordinances, including one which required landlords to provide voter registration information to tenants.

Local funding victim of partisan gerrymandering

The extreme gerrymander also affects local funding. Shared statewide revenue makes up about 30% of city budgets, and larger urban areas have been chronically underinvested in Wisconsin. This has significant consequences for local governance, as municipalities are reliant upon state funding to pay personnel, improve services, and invest in infrastructure. 

Even when the legislature responds to the dire financial needs of a city by enhancing local aid, it can impose additional restrictions on municipal revenues. For instance, in 2023, the state legislature allowed the City of Milwaukee to raise its tax levy and also increased the shared aid the city received. However, Act 12 imposed conditions for this change, including requiring the city to maintain certain spending levels. For other cities the results were mixed: Wausau was better off, while Madison was not.

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Stilted maps also impact the ability of representatives to stick up for their hometowns. The City of Wausau has not had a resident in the assembly in nearly a decade. As a result of current district lines, fewer city residents are elected and the direct connection to the needs of cities are diminished in the body. Having local champions is essential to successful advocacy for a wide range of projects. These include one-time infrastructure improvements, such as the repair of a bridge, and initiatives to revitalize university programs geared toward job creation and worker training. Without sufficient attention connected to the interests of cities, these needs remain unmet.

Unfair maps touch all aspects of government in Wisconsin. An unrepresentative state legislature has stifled local democracy for years. We hope the court will be swayed and order a referee to redraw the district maps before the 2024 election cycle.

Katie Rosenberg is mayor of Wausau. Jonathan Miller is Chief Program Officer of Public Rights Project, an Oakland, California, based civil and human rights organization.