Voces de la Frontera Applauds Mayor Barrett for Listening to Latinx Communities & Vetoing Maps

(MILWAUKEE, WI) – This afternoon, Mayor Barrett announced he would veto the maps approved by the Common Council on November 23rd that included only two Latinx “influence districts” with a 25.6% and 28.1% Latinx population each. The veto came shortly after Voces de la Frontera, Forward Latino, and other Latinx leaders held a press conference at City Hall this morning calling him to veto the maps in order to create a third Latinx majority or plurality district that reflects the growth, movement and importance of the Latinx community in our city.

On Friday of last week, Voces de la Frontera sent Mayor Barrett nine maps with a Latinx population ranging from 47% to 53%  to demonstrate the choices available to the Common Council. The maps show that it is possible to create a third solid majority Latinx aldermanic district on the farther south side below Aldermanic Districts 8 and 12 without disturbing the supermajorities of Latinx voters in those districts.

Christine Neumann-Ortiz, Executive Director of Voces de la Frontera, issued the following statement:

“We thank Mayor Barrett for listening to the Latinx community and our appeal that the maps passed by the Common Council be revisited to reflect the growth, movement and importance of the Latinx community on the south side of Milwaukee. We call on the Milwaukee Common Council to not override the veto and to move forward on creating maps with input from leaders in the Latinx community. As a majority people of color, working class city, the Common Council has a major opportunity to make Milwaukee a national leader in advancing voting, civil and workers rights by creating fair maps.”

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.

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