Introduction
This communication provides answers to frequently asked questions from clerks regarding redistricting and the updates in WisVote.
For additional background, please refer to our previous 2020 Redistricting communications found under Recent Clerk Communications and at these links: https://elections.wi.gov/node/7543 and https://elections.wi.gov/node/7575.
Update
WEC staff completed the redistricting updates to ward, district, district combo, and address records on November 30 for the 64 counties who made redistricting data available to WEC by November 23.
How can I verify the updates?
This information can be reviewed by clerks with WisVote access by reviewing the Voter Listing with Districts report from the Run Report option under the Voter List tile. Districts associated to a municipality can also be confirmed from the Districts tile and districts tied to District Combos can be confirmed under the District Combos tile.
What still needs to be updated?
WEC staff are still working on updating the ballot styles for the 2022 Spring Election and removing contests that are no longer relevant from the Contest view for a municipality no longer districted under a county supervisory seat. Staff are also still updating the reference map views of county supervisory and aldermanic districts under the district record.
I wasn’t included in the first updates, when will my information be updated?
Round 2 updates including four additional counties and newly provided aldermanic district updates were completed on December 7. Any additional aldermanic districts from previously updated counties will also be added as soon as information is received from WISE-LR and can be processed by staff. While it is not a required step in WISE-LR, municipalities with aldermanic districts should provide their aldermanic maps in WISE-LR as soon as possible, especially if they have aldermanic contests on the ballot in 2022. Municipalities with aldermanic offices at large do not need to submit their aldermanic maps. Clerks should not attempt to update their own districts in WisVote.
How do I update my election plans?
To update your election plans, please refer to section 4.2 Elections Plans in the WisVote manual. It’s important to note that you must deactivate a reporting unit and recreate it if the ward make-up is changing. For example, if a ward is being added or removed from a reporting unit, the reporting units where the ward is in use must be deactivated to be used in the new reporting unit. If two reporting units, Wards 1-3 and Ward 4, will be combined, both must be deactivated and recreated as one reporting unit Wards 1-4. Election plan updates will be covered at the December 14, WisVote Redistricting Updates webinar. Sign up to attend and see the entire webinar schedule at this link: https://elections.wi.gov/index.php/node/7574.
I’m interested in notifying my voters via letter or postcard of district changes related to redistricting. Will WEC be providing any materials to support this?
In response to clerk feedback, WEC is developing a data report that can be used with a mail merge letter template that can be edited to fit each municipality’s needs. The report will default to pull in all voters but will be filterable by ward, if a clerk wishes to concentrate their outreach in specific areas. The data report will include voter name, mailing address, and district assignment. Since polling places may change based on election type or other circumstances, WEC staff recommend referring voters to MyVote for polling place information instead of including it in the letter. The polling place information displayed on MyVote is dependent on data from WisVote so it is essential for clerks to ensure Election Plans and polling place assignments are updated in WisVote so they display correctly on MyVote.
There’s something wrong with my data, what should I do?
If information is missing, incorrect, or incomplete, please contact the Wisconsin Elections Commission HelpDesk email at @email with specific information on what you are seeing and what you expect to see. In some cases, underlying map information (such as annexations) have not been provided to WEC and will be updated in January 2022 once submitted by your county to LTSB. In other cases, clerks have not yet provided aldermanic district information and should make those updates in WISE-LR so that WEC staff may receive them and make the updates. In all cases, please be specific so that we can investigate the issue.
Additional Resources
Local Redistricting Legal Questions:
Legislative Reference Bureau (LRB)
https://legis.wisconsin.gov/LRB/nav/elections/
@email
(608) 504-5898
Local Redistricting Software Questions:
GIS Team
Legislative Technology Services Bureau (LTSB)
https://legis.wisconsin.gov/ltsb/local-redistricting/
@email
(608) 283-1830
U.S. Census Questions:
Dan Veroff
UW-Applied Population Lab (APL)
@email
(608) 265-9545
We understand that this process is very complex and wish to assist you with your elections-related responsibilities. If you have any questions regarding WEC’s 2020 redistricting preparations, please contact the Elections Help Desk at @email or 608-261-2028.