Wisconsin-Expert witness: latinos' voting rights 'significantly diminished' under redrawn maps
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/expert-witness-latinos-voting-rights-significantly-diminished-under-redrawn-maps/article_963a9576-5e55-11e1-89e2-0019bb2963f4.html
Among the early witnesses called Thursday was Kenneth Mayer, a political-science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He cited his analyses that showed that Assembly Districts 8 and 9 in Milwaukee, which have high Latino populations, were redistricted in a way that could weaken the Latino community's voting power. He said to make District 8 about the same size as the state's other 98 Assembly districts, boundary lines needed to be adjusted to add about 2,800 people. Instead, the new maps added nearly 26,000 people and shifted out some 23,000, resulting in far more people being moved than was necessary.
Christine Neumann-Ortiz, a director of Latino group Voces de la Frontera, testified that the new maps would make it harder for Latino voters to elect candidates who shared their views on immigration, education and workers' rights.
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In her opening statement, defense attorney Maria Lazar said the new maps have already been passed by the Legislature and are to be presumed constitutional. "The process of legislation is not on trial," she said. "That body does not have to draw a map that satisfies everyone because that would be impossible."
The trial is expected to last until late Friday. If the judges rule that the new maps are unconstitutional, they could choose to have the courts make new maps, as has happened in each of the three last redistricting efforts, or order the Legislature to take up the matter again.
