The upcoming August 13th partisan primary election in Wisconsin will determine who the nominees for the Wisconsin Assembly and State Senate will be for the upcoming November 5th general election. Currently, Democratic, Republican and Independent candidates for the Wisconsin Legislature are making their case to Wisconsin voters about where they stand on important issues.

During the 2023-24 Legislative Session, nonpartisan redistricting reform was a leading political reform issue for many citizens throughout Wisconsin and has been, with accelerating intensity every year since 2011. The fight for fair voting maps has also been increasingly and prominently covered in the Wisconsin and national media, including on social media. It is an important and pivotal issue in our state today.

Last December, the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down the constitutionality of the partisan, gerrymandered state legislative districts rammed into place by the majority in the Wisconsin Legislature during 2021-22 and vetoed by Gov. Tony Evers but imposed on Wisconsin regardless.

The Court ordered new state legislative voting maps to be submitted for its review in the event the Wisconsin Legislature and Governor could not come to a new agreement on constitutional maps. However, in February of this year the Legislature voted to pass and put into place the fairer, more competitive state legislative maps that Gov. Evers submitted to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and on February 19th Gov. Evers signed those new maps into law in ACT 94 and they are now in effect for the upcoming 2024 election and beyond.

But the fairer voting maps embodied in ACT 94 will not be in place beyond 2031 after the next decennial Census when legislative districts must be reconfigured to reflect population changes and shifts in every state legislative and congressional district in the nation. Clearly, the partisan, secretive redistricting process currently in place in Wisconsin statutes must be changed to avoid a repeat of the disastrous gerrymandering that occurred first in 2011 and then again in 2021-22.

It is therefore vitally important that Wisconsin voters know, if legislative candidates are elected to the Wisconsin Assembly or State Senate this November, whether or not they support passing legislation during the upcoming 2025 legislative session that would effect this needed change. Specifically, will your candidates take and support this pledge to Wisconsin voters:

I support passing legislation during the 2025 legislative session and enacting into law the requirement that Wisconsin adopt an independent nonpartisan redistricting process to ensure that no political party can create state legislative or congressional voting districts to favor their own political party nor be able to gerrymander Wisconsin’s voting maps in the future.

As we have done during every state legislative election year since 2014, CC/WI wants to make it simple and easy for Wisconsin voters and media to be able to see which state legislative candidates support the nonpartisan redistricting reform pledge supported by voters all over Wisconsin by providing a continually updated list of those candidates on our website.

Any statewide or state legislative candidate (or their authorized proxy) who supports the fair maps pledge and would like to see their name listed on our site should contact CC/WI by email to Jay Heck: jheck@commoncause.org or, by letter to: Common Cause Wisconsin, P.O. Box 2597, Madison, WI 53701-2597.

Candidates must be proactive to have their names appear on this site! Even incumbent legislators running for re-election who co-sponsored redistricting reform legislation during the last legislative session and previously, must contact us to be on the list. Why? Because it demonstrates that they are paying attention and continue to support this reform issue. And, because it’s important for candidates for public office to take the initiative to inform voters about where they stand on important issues like ending partisan gerrymandering in Wisconsin.

The list of candidates who inform us of their support for the nonpartisan redistricting pledge for Wisconsin will be linked on the Common Cause Wisconsin webpage and updated regularly until the August 13 primary election. The winning candidates in the primary will continue to appear on the list if they have indicated support for the pledge before it, or later until November 5th. As a reminder, voters are making requests for mailed absentee ballots for the August 13th primary election already and in person absentee voting takes place two weeks before Election Day. Candidates should contact CC/WI before voters begin casting their absentee ballots so that voters know where Wisconsin Assembly and State Senate candidates stand on this important issue.

All Wisconsin Assembly and State Senate candidates that have filed for candidacy with the Wisconsin Elections Commission for the August 13th partisan primary election are being contacted by CC/WI at their official campaign email address to inform them of the opportunity to indicate their support for redistricting reform.

Redistricting reform in Wisconsin is critical and necessary if we are ever to return to having a functional, less politically polarized state legislature that is responsive to the citizens of this state rather than to political bosses interested primarily in holding onto power. There is no question that an overwhelming majority of Wisconsinites want and support nonpartisan redistricting reform. Now, let’s see which candidates of all political parties for the Wisconsin Legislature are willing to stand up and pledge support for it and for the voters of our state.

We will never stop fighting for fair voting maps and for a permanent, nonpartisan redistricting process for Wisconsin. Tell the state legislative candidates in your area to contact CC/WI and pledge their support for nonpartisan redistricting reform legislation in 2025.

Forward,

Jay Heck

CC/WI Executive Director