Cullen noted 2012 was “arguably a Democratic wave year in Wisconsin,” with President Barack Obama and Sen. Tammy Baldwin winning and Democratic Assembly candidates receiving about 200,000 more votes than Republican candidates statewide.

“You would expect Democrats to do somewhat better in these elections, which is reflected in the (Senate Bill 163) maps,” Cullen said.

“The real maps tell a story of serious gerrymandering meant to serve a political party,” he said.

Cullen and Schultz said they also tested the model using data from 2010, a year Republicans swept into power, and found the GOP still would have had 56 safe seats compared with 28 safe Democratic seats in the Assembly.

“The reason that these hypothetical maps create more competitive districts and allow for the makeup of the Legislature to more closely mirror general voter sentiment is because these maps were not drawn with an underlying political purpose in mind,” Schultz said.

SB 163 would have the reference bureau draw up political maps, rather than lawyers hired by politicians in the majority party, as is current practice.