Thursday, August 3, 2023

Wisconsin gerrymandering: Spotlight on Assembly District 5

 
What's wrong with this picture?

Cracking the suburbs of Green Bay and packing the residents of the City of Green Bay.

Cracking the suburbs of Appleton and packing the residents of the City of Appleton.

Map:  Wikipedia

Located in northeast Wisconsin, the district comprises most of the eastern half of Outagamie County, including the city of Kaukauna, as well as the town of Hobart in western Brown County. The district also includes nearly all of the Oneida reservation spanning the two counties.

Joy Goeben (R-Hobart) has represented the district since January 2023. 

The UW Applied Population Lab defines 'cracking' as 
drawing districts in such a way as to divide a concentration of specific types of voters across several districts such that they are a minority in each one, with practically no hope of achieving representation in any of the districts. This practice also helps make districts less competitive.
The UW Applied Population Lab defines 'packing' as 
the practice of drawing particular districts in such a way as to ensure that another party's candidate wins that seat by a tremendous margin. Although the opposing party is all but guaranteed the seat, packing makes surrounding districts less competitive, and thus tips the balance of power in the legislative body overall toward the ruling party.


Related reading:
A lawsuit aimed at rewriting Wisconsin's legislative maps to favor Republicans less was filed Wednesday at the state Supreme Court, a day after the state's highest court flipped to liberal control for the first time in years. [emphasis added]
[snip] 
The current maps tilt heavily in Republicans’ favor, with 63 of the 99 Assembly seats and 23 of the 33 Senate seats leaning toward the GOP, according to a December analysis by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Other posts in the series:

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