Lawmakers have started voting on new district maps. Outagamie County group asking residents to write postcards, weigh in and stay involved.

APPLETON - The Outagamie Fair Maps Team will host "Postcards from the People" on Wednesday, a public event designed to allow residents to advocate for nonpartisan voting districts by sending postcards to members of the state Legislature.

The event will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Appleton North High School's library media center, 5000 N. Ballard Road.

Members of the Legislature are tasked every 10 years with redrawing the state's voting districts, a process that is routinely contentious and already has both political parties lawyering up in Wisconsin.

Since Republicans control the Legislature, that party has been in charge of the redistricting process. However, Gov. Tony Evers, created the nonpartisan "People's Maps Commission" to create alternative maps that allowed citizens, rather than lawmakers, to redraw the state's voting districts. The Legislature will be voting on those maps, too.

On Monday, the process got underway.

The Senate approved the GOP-drawn maps along party lines — 21 Republicans voted for them, 12 Democrats voted against them. In turn, the Senate voted against the maps created by Evers' commission. The same party-line vote is likely to occur Thursday when the Assembly is expected to vote on the maps. Evers has said he will veto the Republican-drawn maps.

With the redistricting process moving ahead, the postcard-writing event will highlight reasons for the public to stay engaged with the process. Speakers will include: former Rep. Penny Bernard Schaber; Tony Phillips, a member of the People's Maps Commission; and Debra Cronmiller, executive director of the Wisconsin League of Women Voters.

According to a statement, Schaber and Phillips will compare and contrast the voting maps created by the GOP-controlled Legislature and the voting maps created by the nonpartisan commission. Those who attend Wednesday's event are being asked to write postcards to their legislators to demand fair maps and an end to gerrymandering.

Gerrymandering occurs when district boundaries are not drawn to accurately reflect the voices of all residents by either packing districts with similar leaning voters, or splitting apart voters who tend to vote similarly.

According to an analysis of election data, there have been 396 Assembly races in Wisconsin in the past four November elections. Only seven times in those eight years has an Assembly district controlled by one party been captured by the other. That means in 98% of the races, the same party held the seat after an election.

The Outagamie Fair Maps Team hopes postcards written to lawmakers will further their goal of ending partisan gerrymandering and ensuring Wisconsin has fair maps for fair representation, according to a statement about the event.

RELATED: Outagamie County enters second phase of redistricting

RELATED: Wisconsin redistricting could cause 139,000 to wait to vote in races

Contact Roshaun Higgins at 920-205-1154 or rhiggins@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @row_yr_boat.

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This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Outagamie County Fair Maps Team asks voters to engage in redistricting