A former Democratic state lawmaker organized a protest to end gerrymandering in Appleton on Thursday. June 4, 2026. PC: Fox 11 Online
APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Protesters in Appleton advocated to end gerrymandering Thursday.
Their idea, led by former Democratic State Rep. Penny Bernard Schaber of Appleton, is to create an independent group to draw Wisconsin’s legislative maps, rather than lawmakers.
“We’re hoping to get this independent redistricting commission in place before the next census,” said Bernard Schaber. “So that when the census is finished, the process is set up so it can be nonpartisan.”
The next census is in 2030.
The current maps were signed by Gov. Tony Evers in early 2024 and approved by the Republican-controlled Assembly and Senate. The protesters aren’t necessarily advocating for the state to redraw its current maps, but instead, they’re looking at the long-term effect of a system that uses an independent group to draw legislative maps.
“It would not be run by the Legislature at all. It would be citizen-led,” said Bernard Schaber. “They would be put together with the idea that they would draw the maps, that they do not have a partisan advantage for either party, and the Legislature right now would still have the opportunity to approve those maps, because that’s what the Constitution says.”
State Rep. Ron Tusler, R-Harrison, whose office is just a few doors down from where the protest was held, said independent districting is needed, but he gave a different pitch.
“The way you’d make it random is you would have a very simple computer system, very analog type of system, that draws the maps truly randomly,” said Tusler. “Obviously, both sides are going to be suspicious of that computer system, so you allow both sides to have their own computer experts analyze the system.”
Evers called a special session in April for fair maps, but was unsuccessful. The other wrinkle: even if maps are drawn by an independent group, they would still need to be approved by the governor, Senate and Assembly in the future.
At the federal level, last week, the Wisconsin Supreme Court announced it would take up a redistricting fight that could reshape the state’s congressional map. However, it won’t change the districts for this fall’s election like in other states.
The court will hear an appeal from a bipartisan coalition of business leaders, which says the current districts are an anti-competitive gerrymander that suppress real elections.
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