Understanding Redistricting Every 10 years, the United States counts its residents and maps where they live. This process is called the census.
After every census, each county in Wisconsin is required to “redistrict.” That means the county must assign residents into geographic areas that have similar numbers of people. These areas are called “districts.” Every district gets to elect a representative to the County Board. These representatives are called “supervisors.”
The County Board of Supervisors makes important decisions about the environment, criminal justice, human needs and services, and infrastructure. It decides how the county spends your tax dollars.
Dane County Redistricting This fall, the County Board will decide how many districts the County Board will have for the next 10 years; and in the spring and summer of 2021, with information from the census, Dane County will complete the redistricting process of drawing maps so each new district has a similar number of residents.
When a county chooses many districts, it has many supervisors. In this case, each supervisor represents a smaller number of people. If a county chooses to have just a few districts, it also has just a few supervisors. In this case, each supervisor represents a larger number of residents.
Today, Dane County has 37 districts and 37 supervisors. Each supervisor represents about 14,500 residents.
Dane County remains the fastest growing County in the State of Wisconsin.
- If Dane County chooses to keep the same number (37) or a smaller number of supervisors, each supervisor will represent more than 14,500 residents.
- Even if Dane County chooses to create a larger county board, each supervisor might still represent more residents. It just depends on how much Dane County has grown.
What are the Pros and Cons of various Board sizes? The Wisconsin Counties Association has created a presentation that explains:
https://dane.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=8575992&GUID=38472F38-44C2-4CDF-AA5D-5DD426817E52 How has the size of the Dane County Board changed over time? To see the history of Dane County Board size, a chart is available here:
https://dane.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=8580842&GUID=1B96C641-44E5-4BF7-A88E-914C005AC209 