Michigan redistricting

The days of politicians drawing their own district maps end Tuesday, when the citizen-powered, nonpartisan redistricting commission begins a series of public meetings.

On May 20, Bridge Michigan Capitol reporter Sergio Martínez-Beltrán will moderate a Zoom discussion with two redistricting experts on the current state of Michigan’s redistricting process.

Michigan’s population grows past 10 million, but it will still lose a representative in Congress. Four of the six other states losing a seat are in the Great Lakes.

Democrat Joe Biden carried Michigan by extending his support into the suburbs to withstand a surge for Republican Donald Trump in rural parts of the state. But precinct-level data shows many exceptions, with one sliver of Detroit going for Trump and more of west Michigan favoring Biden.

A new panel to draw Michigan’s political lines could allow diverse groups to increase their political power. But the process is bound to create winners and losers.

Republicans in the Michigan House want to award most of the state’s presidential electors by congressional district, an overhaul that would increase clout of rural areas and decrease it in metro Detroit.

A citizens group charged with taking the politics out of the redistricting process draws fire because an adviser donated to Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.

Approved by voters in 2018, the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Panel faces several hurdles but could take a big step forward Thursday in its quest to reverse gerrymandering.

For the first time, a nonpartisan commission is redrawing Michigan political districts that have favored Republicans for years. But its deadline to finish the work is being jeopardized by delays in Census population data.

Michigan residents have high hopes for a newly created panel charged with redrawing political boundaries called some of the most gerrymandered in the nation.

For years, Michigan’s political maps have favored Republicans. A consultant who drew them says that has allowed candidates to focus more on primaries, giving rise to extreme candidates and hyperpartisanship.

Two years after voters approved an amendment to wrest decennial district-making from politicians, the Michigan Secretary of State announces the 13 (mostly) ordinary citizens charged with ending gerrymandering. Most have little political experience.

Michigan’s political districts are some of the nation’s most notorious gerrymanders. But the maps drawn to give the GOP an advantage are facing their final election, complicating the party’s effort to reclaim a majority in Congress and maintain its edge in the state Legislature.

The case is the latest in a number of legal victories for the new commission for drawing voting district lines in Michigan.

Michigan’s first redistricting commission should take shape in August, after legislative leaders strike up to 20 people from the panel. Voters in 2018 opted to form the commission after years of complaints about gerrymandering.

A panel of three federal judges determined two GOP challenges to the state’s redistricting commission don’t stand a chance.

A new independent redistricting panel has attracted 6,000 volunteers, but Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson says they don’t yet reflect Michigan’s demographic and geographic diversity.

“Like our fight to end gerrymandering, a successful accountability campaign will require a robust, citizen-led effort,” writes the executive director of Voters Not Politicians.

In a blow to Republicans, U.S. District Court Judge Janet Neff said delaying implementation of a voter-approved redistricting commission law would be a “drastic action” not warranted by lawsuit claims.

An unlikely alliance of Voters Not Politicians and GOP leaders are discussing opening public records access laws, lobbying reforms, personal financial disclosures, ethics oversight and limitations on aggressive legislating during the state’s so-called lame-duck session.