Wisconsin Supreme Court now adopts GOP-drawn voting maps, after US Supreme Court rejected Gov. Evers’ maps

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Friday adopted Republican-drawn maps for the state Legislature, after initially approving maps drawn by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.

The court reversed itself after the U.S. Supreme Court in March said Evers’ maps were incorrectly adopted.

The decision from the state’s high court came the same day candidates could start circulating nomination papers to get on the ballot. Before the ruling, candidates didn’t know for certain if they were running in the correct district and potential signers wouldn’t know if they lived in the candidate’s district and were eligible to sign the form.

The court on March 3 adopted Evers’ legislative map, but the U.S. Supreme Court rejected it on March 23. That had left the state without new state Senate and Assembly district boundaries.

Evers’ map created seven majority-Black state Assembly districts in Milwaukee, up from the current six. The map from the Republican-controlled Legislature had just five districts.

The U.S. Supreme Court said the Wisconsin Supreme Court, when it adopted Evers’ map, failed to consider whether a “race-neutral alternative that did not add a seventh majority-black district would deny black voters equal political opportunity.”

Evers told the state Supreme Court it could still adopt his map with some additional analysis, or an alternative with six majority Black districts. The Republican-controlled Legislature argued that its map should be the one implemented.