State of Michigan

Independent redistricting commission opens to applicants this year

In 2021, 13 Michigan citizens will decide what the state's House, Senate and Congressional districts will look like for the 2022 elections and beyond.

Starting this fall, eligible residents will be able to put their hat in the ring to be on the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission when applications are made available on the Secretary of State's website.

The commission will ultimately be made up of four Democrats, four Republicans and five unaffiliated independents.

But the competition could be stiff - under the new constitutional language adopted when voters approved Proposal 2 in 2018, the Secretary of State is required to mail applications to a minimum of 10,000 randomly selected Michigan voters.

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson says her office will be encouraging people across the state to apply until the June 1, 2020 deadline for applicants, and said having several hundred thousand applicants isn’t out of the realm of possibility.

So what will it mean to be a redistricting commissioner in Michigan? Here's what we know.

Don't Edit

Jake May | MLive.com

What are the commission's duties?

Once seated, the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission will be responsible for drawing political district maps for the legislature and Congress, a task previously handled by the Michigan legislature.

From fall 2020 through fall 2021, the commission will work on redrawing maps based on results from the 2020 census, and are required to follow a series of criteria, including:

Complying with federal requirements, including making each district an equal population size

Making the districts geographically contiguous

Keeping communities of interest together

Not favoring any political party or candidate for office

Considering county, city and township lines

Making the districts reasonably compact

The commission is required to host at least 15 public hearings throughout the drafting process, and needs to adopt the maps by Nov. 1, 2021.

The maps will be in effect for the 2022 election cycle.

Read the full Constitutional amendment that was adopted in 2018 here.

Don't Edit

Cory Morse | MLive.com

What's the status of the application process?

Applications to serve on the commission will go live sometime this fall, according to the Secretary of State's office.

Currently, the Secretary of State is seeking public comment on draft application language and eligibility guidelines, which can be viewed in full on the state's redistricting website.

People can review the draft language and submit any suggestions to Redistricting@Michigan.gov until Aug. 9.

The public comment period wasn’t required under the new constitutional language, but Benson said she felt it was important to begin the new redistricting process with as much transparency as possible.

Michigan residents can weigh in on application for independent redistricting commission

Don't Edit

Who is eligible to apply?

Once the final applications go live, the commission is open to registered Michigan voters - with several caveats.

Voters Not Politicians - the group behind Proposal 2 - wanted to remove politics from the political redistricting process, and included several restrictions for who would be eligible to serve.

A Michigan voter would be ineligible to serve if one of these criteria applied to them in the last six years:

They were a candidate for a partisan office, or an elected official holding partisan office

They worked as a registered lobbyist, or as an employee of one

They worked as a consultant or employee of a partisan official or candidate, or for a political action committee

They were an officer for a political party

They were employed by the legislature or were an unclassified state employee

They are immediate family members of anyone who is ineligible based on the above criteria

Don't Edit

Are precinct delegates or nonpartisan officeholders eligible?

Some of those restrictions are open to interpretation - including what qualifies as a "partisan office."

Currently, the draft guidelines issued by the Secretary of State indicate someone who's served as a precinct delegate for either the Democrat or Republican Party in the last six years may not be able to serve, as it's technically a partisan local office.

Benson recently told reporters in the department's read of the law and in conversations with nearly everyone they've spoken to about the subject, the "near-universal" interpretation is that recent precinct delegates were meant to be included under the ineligibility requirements.

"We think it's fairly clear under the language of the Constitutional amendment that they're not eligible and that's our determination," she said. "We welcome others to make the case otherwise."

Under the draft guidelines, the Secretary of State noted candidates for nonpartisan offices - including school boards, nonpartisan local office holders and elected judges - may be eligible to serve on the commission.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

State of Michigan

What do prospective applicants have to do?

Once the application process opens, people interested in applying will have to fill out the form and submit a notarized copy to the Secretary of State by June 1, 2020.

The draft language that's currently open for public comment asks applicants to attest that they meet the eligibility requirements to serve on the commission, as well as ask whether they understand that if they become a semi-finalist or member of their commission, the answers to the majority of their responses will be made public.

Other questions include whether the applicant is comfortable with the time commitment, travel and ineligibility to serve in partisan elected office for five years following service on the commission.

Applicants are asked to indicate their party affiliation, and the draft application includes an optional question about why or how they affiliate with that selection.

Another optional question included on the form asks why applicants want to serve on the commission.

The draft application made available for public comment can be viewed here.

Don't Edit

Why the notary requirement?

Benson said adding a notary requirement to the application was the department's way of ensuring that applicants' responses are truthful and accurate, a requirement under the new law.

She noted the Secretary of State plans to work to help anyone who applies that might see the notary requirement as a barrier to participating.

Anyone who submits an incomplete application form will be contacted directly by the Secretary of State before the application period closes, Benson said.

Don't Edit

Will commissioners be paid?

Yes. Each commissioner is required to receive at least 25 percent of what the governor makes annually - that currently works out to about $40,000 per year.

Don't Edit

What happens after applications are submitted?

The deadline for submitting applications to be on the commission is June 1, 2020.

Once applications are submitted, the applications will be statistically weighted to match Michigan's geographic and demographic makeup.

From there, a pool of 200 finalists will be randomly selected out of those who applied with an open application and those who were randomly mailed applications by the Secretary of State.

After that, party leaders in the Michigan legislature will have an opportunity to review the finalists.

Don't Edit

Will the finalists be public?

Yes. Benson said the application forms of the 200 finalists will be posted publicly, barring personal details like their email and phone number.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

State of Michigan

What do legislative leaders do with the applications?

Once the 200 finalists are determined, the four majority and minority leaders in the Legislature will have the right of first refusal on who ultimately sits on the commission.

Each legislative leader will have up to five "strikes" to remove applications they deem unfit to serve on the commission, meaning a maximum of 20 finalists could be removed from the pool.

The remaining finalists will be split into three pools based on political affiliation and randomly selected to sit on the commission.

Don't Edit

What's left to figure out?

Benson said the department is still working on how best to maintain the integrity of the application process to ensure all of the responses are accurate before the commission is seated.

She said the department is exploring what other states have done, and added the legislative review of the 200 finalists is a significant check on the applicants who made it that far in the process.

Another outstanding issue in Benson's mind is funding.

So far, Benson said the department has been paying out of pocket for handling the first steps of the redistricting process.

Although the constitutional language requires $4.6 million be appropriated to the commission itself, Benson said the department will need about $2 million from the Legislature to fully fund the administrative process of creating the commission and reaching out to citizens.

“It’s one of my deepest frustrations with this, because the success of this process may very well hinge on whether or not the legislature fully funds it at every stage,” she said. “My hope and expectation is that the legislature...will recognize that this is the law now and we all have a stake in its success.”

Don't Edit

How to weigh in

The public comment period on the proposed application and guidelines is open until Friday, Aug. 9.

See the draft application on the Secretary of State's website, and submit comments to Redistricting@michigan.gov.

Don't Edit