On Tuesday Ohio passed a ballot initiative to help curb gerrymandering, but still leaves the map-drawing process in the hands of elected politicians. Michigan’s proposed initiative goes further.
The organization “Voters not Politicians” has proposed taking the powers of drawing lines for both the state and federal level out of the hands of politicians and instead going with an independent commission in the state of Michigan. This proposal has already gotten enough signatures to appear on the ballot. Michigan is another state badly gerrymandered by Republicans in 2011 and voters have had enough.
Here’s a quick rundown on how it would work:
- Independent commission for drawing state and federal lines would be established
- Commission would be made up of citizens (4 Democrat, 4 Republican, 5 Independent)
- Secretary of State will be tasked with overseeing commission, choosing qualified applicants, and enacting the commission’s maps.
- Members of the staff with be able to hire staff, consultants, and legal representation to aide with data collection and analysis.
According to the proposal, each member must:
- be registered and eligible to vote in the state of Michigan.
- not currently or in the past six years have been a declared candidate or elected official of any federal, state, or local office; an officer or member of the governing body of a federal, state, or local political party; a paid consultant of any elected official, political candidate, or political action committee; an employee of the state legislature; or a registered lobbyist.
- not be a parent, stepparent, child, stepchild, or spouse to anyone specified in the above point.
The proposal also requires that anyone who serves on the Commission cannot hold a partisan elective office at any level in Michigan.
This has big grassroots support and would be a huge win for voters, and possibly a model for other states. California already has an independent commission that closely resembles what is proposed here.
Map time:
Michigan is a Democratic leaning state that voted for Trump by 0.2%. Yet ever since 2012, Republicans have won 9 of the 14 congressional seats in Michigan because of the map they drew. Dems should expect to gain at least a seat with a nonpartisan redistricting.