Trial challenging redistricting map now underway | Politics

MILWAUKEE — A trial challenging Wisconsin’s new election maps is now underway. The case deals with redistricting. That’s the process in which, once a decade, lawmakers modify the maps that determine how boundary lines are drawn between voting districts.

Last year GOP lawmakers approved new maps that have been signed into law. But a group of Democrats and the Latino rights group Voces De La Frontera filed a lawsuit challenging how the lines were drawn. They argue the maps were drafted in secret and that they are unconstitutional because it deprives minorities of their voting power by splitting up their district.

Earlier this week a three-judge panel asked the Legislature to work out a compromise on the voting maps before they were to hear the case. They gave Republicans and Democrats two days, but still no agreement was reached. So today the redistricting trial is expected to begin in Federal Court.

On Tuesday, lawmakers said they didn’t think they could revisit the issue because state law only allows the maps to be drawn once every 10 years, after new U.S. Census numbers come out.

But the judges disagreed Wednesday, saying the law allows the maps to be modified at any point during the first two-year legislative session following the Census release. In this case, that legislative session is still ongoing.

It’s expected the redistricting trial will end at some point on Friday.

Monitor FOX6 News and FOX6Now.com for updates on this developing story.