New law gives voters the right to decide size of county board

Yesterday Gov. Jim Doyle signed a new law that allows voters to have a say in how large or small their county board should be. And they can do so once every 10 years.

The bill gives voters in each county throughout Wisconsin, except Milwaukee and Marathon counties, the right to petition to change the size of their county board via referendum.

The reason this can only be done once every 10 years is because the census is taken every 10 years, after which district boundaries are redrawn in each county. This allows voters to reduce or increase the size of their county board, at the same time.

Rep. Gregg Underheim (R-Oshkosh) is happy with the new legislation. In fact he co-sponsored the bill that made it law, complaining that at 38 members-large, the Winnebago County Board is one of the largest in the nation and its size causes a lack of accountability.

It is also hoped that if there were a smaller board, more people would be interested in serving on the Winnebago County Board and there would be more contested races. As it stands currently, Winnebago County's 38-member board has two vacant district seats, and all but five of those districts have uncontested elections April 4.