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Michigan Independent Citizen Redistricting Commission Upcoming Dates

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Michigan Independent Citizen Redistricting Commission Upcoming Dates -

Redistricting In Michigan

In 2018, Michigan voters overwhelmingly approved Proposal 2, a citizen-led ballot initiative that created the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission (MICRC). The MICRC is now responsible for drawing Michigan’s Congressional, State Senate, and State House maps. The redistricting process is foundational to America’s one-person, one-vote principle of democracy. So, as a trusted voice in Michigan's democracy space, Promote the Vote monitored and engaged in the redistricting process from the time the commissioners began meeting in 2021 until final maps were adopted in 2022.

Late in December 2023, a three-judge federal court panel ruled that Michigan’s current state legislative maps violated the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The judges determined that seven State House districts, and six State Senate districts, undermined the voting power of Black and brown Metro Detroit voters. The redraw process is well underway and Promote the Vote’s coalition partners, who share a rich history and deep investment in advancing voting rights and equitable protections for Michigan communities, are continuing to work to help Michiganders understand the 2024 redraw process.

Michigan State Senate Redraw

The MICRC is currently redrawing some State Senate districts in Metro Detroit. Our coalition is committed to ensuring the MICRC understands its responsibility to redraw districts to address the lack of equitable outcomes afforded to voters of color in six southeast Michigan State Senate districts. The MICRC also has a duty to ensure all Michiganders, especially metro Detroit residents, truly understand how the commission’s proposed maps will impact our communities now and into the future. As the commissioners redraw the six southeast Michigan State Senate districts and surrounding areas, they should prioritize creating Senate districts that support equitable voting power for historically marginalized groups and that fairly and accurately reflect our diverse communities.

The MICRC and plaintiffs agreed on a tight timeline to best help the MICRC meet their July 26, 2024 deadline to submit a final map to the court. The commissioners have been hard at work! To kick off May 2024, the MICRC hosted three public hearings in southeast Michigan to hear feedback from the people in those communities most impacted by this redraw process. In just a few short weeks, the MICRC produced dozens of proposed maps, available to view and comment on in the MICRC comment portal.

To help keep track of the various collaborative and individual maps proposed by the MICRC, Promote the Vote is evaluating each map the Commission produces and posts. PTV created a scorecard for each existing map—and plans to do so for every future map the MICRC proposes—and we're sharing the results of our evaluations with you. For each MICRC map with available data, we will post and share a simple scorecard comparing that map to the current State Senate map (Linden) across a number of helpful, easy-to-understand metrics. Our goal is for our scorecards to equip Michiganders with the facts they need to feel confident enough to engage with the MICRC at meetings and hearings, and courageous enough to advocate for their communities.

Our Mapping Principles

Our coalition’s 2024 Redistricting Project is guided by four foundational mapping principles:

Meet or exceed Michigan’s constitutional criteria.
Improve our current maps, and ensure no retrogression in the number of Voting Rights Act districts.
Incorporate community of interest submissions and input from coalition partners.
Eliminate legislative maps where one political party has a lasting, unfair advantage by aiming for overall partisan fairness.

Michigan State House Redraw

PTV’s statewide coalition of civil rights organizations collaborated to produce a fair, equitable state house map for the people of Michigan. Our PTV Unity map was instrumental in showing the people of Michigan what was possible for the State House redraw. PTV’s map showed commissioners that it was possible to have fair, equitable maps that even provided 12 opportunity districts for Black and brown voters in Metro Detroit.

After much public comment and work from the commissioners, the MICRC selected Motown Sound FC E1 as their final proposed plan to submit to the court. In March the court-appointed Reviewing Special Master submitted a report affirming the commission's Motown sound FC E1 map would meet the mark of the constitutional criteria, and that was confirmed in on March 27 when the court approved the map.

Resources

“The redraw process is an opportunity for the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission to draw the best maps possible, and ensure that Michigan’s communities of interest are fairly represented.”

Micheal Davis, Jr., Executive Director, Promote The Vote

“Voters are an integral part of the redistricting process. The people impacted by the maps need to be part of the redrawing process.”

Branden Snyder, Co-Executive Director, Detroit Action

“Voters overwhelmingly supported the ballot initiative that created the ICRC and the independent redistricting process. It’s important that the commission maintains control of the redraw process.”

Paula Bowman, Co-President, League of Women Voters of Michigan

“There is no room for partisan bias in the redistricting process. There’s a lot on the line right now and the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission must be held accountable for ensuring the redraw process is impartial for all communities impacted by the change.”