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Who's on the ballot in Walworth, Rock counties--and where?

Photo

The map above shows the new district boundaries for Assembly districts in Rock and Walworth counties. The district boundaries are redrawn every 10 years, and the changes are drawing a number of candidates to area races this fall. An Aug. 14 primary will be needed in some districts, while the general election is set for Nov. 6.

JANESVILLE — "You can’t tell the players without a scorecard.” That saying may never have been more true than when describing this fall’s election for the Wisconsin Assembly. The reason is redistricting, which has reshaped the 99 Assembly districts within the Badger State.

(Read all of this week's stories from Walworth County Sunday HERE. )

Election boundaries must be redrawn every 10 years, following the decennial federal census, to account for population shifts in an effort to ensure that political districts roughly include the same number of voters.

(Read all of this week's stories from Walworth County Sunday HERE. )

Wisconsin is one of 30 states that allow its lawmakers to draw the lines. However, in recent decades, Republican and Democratic state lawmakers have not been able to agree on the maps, and the courts have set the boundaries.

This time, the Republican-controlled Legislature approved a bill establishing the district maps in July 2011, which was then signed by Gov. Scott Walker.

“It was unique this time to actually have a bill passed by both houses and signed by the governor without going to the courts first,” said J.R. Ross, editor for the political news service wispolitics.com. “Drawing of the lines for the first time in a long time was handled by lawmakers themselves.”

Ross added that redistricting is the most political act allowed under state law.

“It is partisan because whoever is in power is going to draw those maps to help his or her party … that’s smart politics,” Ross said.

State Rep. Steve Nass, R-La Grange, said the redistricting process worked.

“It ended up in the courts, and the courts determined there were only two districts (in Milwaukee) that needed to be changed … the remainder of the redistricting was left intact,” Nass said.

A panel of federal judges ruled lines drawn for Assembly districts 8 and 9, on Milwaukee’s south side, violated the federal Voting Rights Act by unfairly weakening Latino voting power.

“Even if you want to gerrymander, it’s difficult to move everything around to selfishly favor one party or the other, because you even end up with Republicans running against Republicans,” Nass said.

The new election boundaries resulted in more than a dozen incumbent representatives living in a new district. For those representatives, the dilemma was to either move or file a notification of non-candidacy in their former district and then file papers for election in a different Assembly district.

Amy Loudenbeck, a Republican from Clinton Township, was elected in 2010 to the 45th District, which had been a Democratic stronghold for more than two decades. The new lines move about half of her district, including her residence, into a new version of District 31, so she will run for that seat. The 31st Assembly District has been redrawn to include more of central and northern Walworth County, as well as western Rock County and parts of Jefferson County.

For the complete story, see HERE.

At a glance

Here are the candidates for local state Assembly seats. The primary (if necessary) is Aug. 14, and the general election is Nov. 6.

-- Assembly District 31:

Amy Loudenbeck, Republican, Clinton Township

Ryan J. Schroeder, Democrat, Delavan

-- Assembly District 32:

Tyler August (incumbent), Republican, Geneva Township

Kim M. Peterson, Democrat, Spring Prairie Township

-- Assembly District 33:

Steve Nass, Republican,

La Grange Township

Scott Allan Woods, Democrat, Delavan

-- Assembly District 43:

Evan Wynn (incumbent), Republican, Whitewater

Andy Jorgensen, Democrat,

Fort Atkinson

-- Assembly District 44:

(primary necessary)

Joe Knilans (incumbent), Republican, Janesville

Kevin Murray, Democrat, Janesville

Debra Kolste, Democrat, Janesville

Yuri Rashkin, Democrat, Janesville

Sam Liebert, Democrat, Janesville

-- Assembly District 45:

(primary necessary)

Russell Rucker, Republican, Orfordville

Beth Schmidt, Republican, Orfordville

Janis Ringhand, Democrat, Evansville

Sheila De Forest, Democrat, Beloit