County Board subcommittee has been meeting for months already!
The committee meets today at noon to finalize their draft.
Here’s their criteria for how they think the redistricting process and mapping should go.
DRAFT – PROPOSED REDISTRICTING CRITERIA FOR PUBLIC INPUT
“Redistricting” is the process of redrawing the voting maps that occurs once every ten years to update districts to reflect changes in population over time. Information from the U.S. Census is used to determine population, and Dane County is then responsible for drawing county board districts.
In 2014, Dane County voters overwhelmingly supported impartial, nonpartisan redistricting when asked about it in an advisory referendum. In response, the Executive Committee of the Dane County Board of Supervisors approved a motion creating a Dane County Redistricting Subcommittee to make recommendations for how voting district maps are to be drawn in 2021. This committee began its work in the summer of 2015. Members of the subcommittee include a member of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, an expert in impartial redistricting, a representative of the Dane County Towns Association, a representative of the Dane County Cities and Villages Association, a member from an action group that represents a minority community, and members of the County Board.
The subcommittee, which has met six times, has developed two sets of potential criteria: one set for the process of making decisions about redistricting; and another set of criteria that need to be considered in the actual drawing of the maps. The subcommittee wants to receive input from the public regarding these criteria, how important or unimportant they are to the public, and whether any additional criteria should be considered. The criteria are as follows:
Possible Criteria for the Mapping Process
These are criteria the subcommittee agreed should be considered by the redistricting body to be used as a part of the redistricting and mapping process:
– Independent
– Impartial
– Fair
– Accountable
– Transparent
– Timeliness with respect to state statutory process
– Public engagement
– Early and ongoing communication with municipal clerks for input throughout the process
Possible Criteria for the Map Content
These are criteria the subcommittee agreed should be considered by the redistricting body to be used as factors in creating the maps themselves:
– Equal population*
– Racial, ethnic, or language minority representation* and communities of interest*
– Contiguity*
– Compactness*
– Geography and natural boundaries, such as rivers, lakes, etc.
– Political boundaries such as cities, villages, towns, school districts, or districts thereof
– Neighborhoods
– Incumbency
* Required by state or federal law
