Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition

Common Cause, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, and the League of Women Voters began the coalition in response to the 2012 election results because 51 percent of statewide votes went to Democratic candidates, yet Republicans still won 60 of the 99 state Assembly seats. Critics blamed gerrymandering. ³ Since that time, numerous other organizations have joined the coalition. ⁴

Background

The Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition aims to remove the power of legislative redistricting from the elected members of Wisconsin’s state Assembly and the Senate and grant it instead to unelected independent redistricting commissions.  ³

Wisconsin’s state constitution currently directs the legislature to redistrict every 10 years based on the results of the decennial U.S. Census. The change would therefore require a constitutional amendment. That means the state legislature must approve it in two successive cycles before it goes to a popular referendum. ³

The coalition claims to promote racial equity, fairness, independence, democracy, equal representation, equal voice, transparency, inclusivity, public participation, and nonpartisanship.  ¹ Fair Maps Wisconsin contends that under maps drawn by a nonpartisan redistricting commission, the state legislature would be more likely to support pro-abortion legislation, gun control, Medicaid expansion, legalized cannabis, and environmental regulations. ²

Activities

The coalition’s promotes volunteer teams wrote hundreds of letters to the editor. It also conducted exit surveys at election sites and sent 15,000 handwritten postcards to Wisconsin residents. ⁵

The coalition distributed 22,000 brochures across the state ahead of the 2022 November election. It also created a video project, called “#MadAboutMaps,” that interviewed residents across the state about why they were angry about gerrymandering. The coalition held “fair count” rallies in 17 cities. It was also part of a legislative hearing on Senate Bill 621. ⁵

More than 200 Wisconsin residents met virtually with their state legislators; helped pass referendums in 32 counties from voters calling for “fair” maps. ⁵

The organization’s volunteers and staff conducted training on Zoom, Facebook, and at in-person events. Thousands of Wisconsin residents signed online and paper petitions asking the state legislators to create a nonpartisan redistricting process. ⁵

The coalition held multiple public meetings across the state in the summer of 2025, starting in North Shore in June, and going to Dodgeville, Green Bay, and Wausau in July. In August, the coalition held public events in Waukesha, and Madison. ⁶

Member Organizations

As of 2025, the Fair Maps Wisconsin Coalition lead team included All Voting is Local, Campus Vote, Common Cause, Law Forward, League of Women Voters, Leaders Igniting Transformation, RepresentUs Wisconsin, Souls to the Polls Vote, Wisconsin Civic Power Table, Wisconsin Conservation Voices, Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, the Wisconsin Farmers Union, and the Wisconsin Public Education Network. ⁴

Other coalition partners are the ACLU Wisconsin, Center for Media and Democracy, Citizen Action of Wisconsin, Fair Elections Center, Grass Roots North Shore, GrassRoots Organizing Western Wisconsin (GROWW), NAACP, Our Wisconsin Revolution, Sierra Club Wisconsin Chapter, For Our Future Wisconsin Action, Southside Organizing Center, Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort, Wisconsin AFL-CIO, and Wisconsin United to Amend. ⁴

Leadership

As of 2025, Iuscely Flores was organizing director for Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition. For a decade, Flores provided community mobilizing to different efforts. She was previously the racial equity and economic justice advocate for the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. ⁷

Founding

Common Cause, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, and the League of Women Voters began the effort that led to the Fair Maps Wisconsin Coalition in response to the 2012 election results. That year, 51 percent of statewide votes went to Democratic candidates, Republicans still won 60 of the 99 seats. Critics blamed gerrymandered districts. ³

In 2023, the liberal majority on the Wisconsin state Supreme Court declared the state legislative maps to be unconstitutional. This required lawmakers to adopt new maps. The decision did not affect congressional districts. ⁸

The Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition, the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, and the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign put out statements celebrating the passage of a map favored by Gov. Tony Evers (D) after the state legislature passed the maps in February 2024, calling it a “a win for the people of Wisconsin and the fair maps movement.” ⁹