In 2012, Democratic candidates in Wisconsin received more votes than Republicans
This is not just a problem in Wisconsin, and this bill has no chance of being passed with the R's in control. But we need support nationwide for redistricting reform.
http://chippewa.com/print-specific/columns/hardie-public-must-push-for-redistricting-reform/article_68de1d1b-cb52-5011-a931-1f28e54d3861.html
Dale Schultz announced earlier this year that he would not seek re-election to the Wisconsin Senate after serving in the Legislature for 32 years. But the Republican from Richland Center is not exiting quietly and has joined with Sen. Tim Cullen, D-Janesville, to promote legislation that would change Wisconsin’s flawed redistricting process.
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There is much to admire from politicians like Schultz, who went against his party on issues such as mining and Act 10 because he did something that seems to be lost in today’s political landscape — he listened to his constituents. He remains convinced that in order to fix the hyper-partisan process that dominates politics today, we must first fix the redistricting process.
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In 2012, Democratic candidates in Wisconsin received more votes than Republicans for president, U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, state Senate and state Assembly. But because of redistricting, Republicans held their 5-3 lead in the House, took back control of the state Senate, 18-15, and dominated in the state Assembly 60-39.
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This can be fixed if we take the politics out of the process. A bill supported by Schultz and others is modeled after the redistricting system in Iowa, which has used the nonpartisan system since 1980. Under the Wisconsin proposal, the Legislative Reference Bureau would propose the political boundaries, which would still need approval from the Legislature with a limited ability to amend them.
Emphasis mine.
