The Milwaukee-based immigration group Voces de la Frontera has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that legislative redistricting earlier this year unfairly deprived Latinos in the new 8th Assembly District of the opportunity to elect candidates of their choosing.
The complaint argues that the new 8th and 9th district borders violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The suit seeks to establish a judicially-authored redistricting map "(in) the absence of timely and expeditious action" by lawmakers to revise the maps.
“The population of the Latino community on Milwaukee’s south side had increased by 44%, to the point that it was sufficiently large to support a geographically compact single legislative district with a majority of voting age Latinos who are citizens of the United States," said VDLF Executive Director Christine Neumann-Ortiz in a statement. "The Walker redistricting plan reduces that potential majority to just over 40%, and demonstrates intent to deprive Milwaukee’s Latino community of a voting majority by dividing and diluting our community’s vote."
A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said lawmakers haven’t reviewed the lawsuit, "but we’re confident that we properly addressed and complied with all of the legal redistricting criteria when we passed the maps."
– WisPolitics.com
