Area Voices Among “Concerned Voters of Wisconsin” who file Friend of the Court Brief in Redistricting Case with the Wisconsin Supreme Court

by Dave Frodozci, edited by Michael Stearney and Irene Bugge and based on a press release written by Debbie Patel

On January 4th a group of 36 Wisconsin citizens, “Concerned Voters of Wisconsin,” hailing from all 33 State Senate Districts, filed a friend of the court brief with the Wisconsin Supreme Court in Johnson v Wisconsin Election Commission. The brief was filed by Laffey, Leitner, & Goode of Milwaukee, counsel for the group.   Attorney Mark M. Leitner, on behalf of the Concerned Voters of Wisconsin, stated:  “Our firm was pleased to join in this effort by a group of concerned Wisconsin voters – Republicans, Democrats, and independents – who ask the Court to hear what everyday citizen voters have to say about redistricting in this state. The people are tired of gerrymandering—on both sides of the aisle—and it is time for the courts to recognize that the people need to be heard. This brief sends a clear message that ‘we the people’ matter.” 

The redistricting map assessments leading to the brief were performed by members of the Wisconsin Maps Assessment Project (WIMAP, pronounced “we map”). Led by Dr. Don Leake, Professor Emeritus UW-River Falls, WIMAP is a group of everyday Wisconsin voters from across the state and the political divide who believe that fair redistricting is an essential foundation of a representative democracy. Other WIMAP members are Jenelle Ludwig Krause of rural Baldwin and David Fodroczi of rural Osceola. Leake and Fodroczi are also among the 36 Concerned Voters of Wisconsin who filed the brief.

WIMAP spent more than a year learning about redistricting principles and mechanics, consulting with experts on the legal, political and mathematical aspects of redistricting, and listening to the concerns of ordinary citizens. Using sophisticated publicly available software developed by national experts, WIMAP members drew and submitted their own maps earlier in the redistricting process. WIMAP evaluated its own maps and those submitted by the Peoples Map Commission, the Wisconsin Legislature, and the general public. WIMAP analyzed the merits of the maps submitted to the Court in the Johnson case. 

When asked about the brief, Dr. Leake stated