A proposal to change how Michigan draws its state legislative and Congressional districts will be on the November 2018 ballot, the Board of State Canvassers ruled Wednesday.

The board approved the motion 3-0, and got a standing ovation from about 200 people who attended the meeting at the Lansing Center.

"It's so hard to even put into words with how ecstatic I am," said Lija Hogan, a board member for Voters Not Politicians, the group behind the initiative. "It's been two years of hard work. It's a great day for Michigan."

An opposition group still has an appeal pending before the Michigan Supreme Court to keep the proposal off the ballot, but the Supreme Court already refused to issue a stay before Wednesday's board meeting.

Proposal 2 would amend the Michigan Constitution to create an independent redistricting commission. The 13-member commission would consist of five independent members, four self-declared Democrats and four self-declared Republicans.

Currently, redistricting is controlled by the Republican-controlled state Legislature. But Democrats and other advocates of election reform argue the system as is benefits the party in control and amounts to political gerrymandering.

Voters Not Politicians rallied thousands of volunteers across the state to drum up enough signatures for the proposal, which calls for creating an independent commission in time for the next round of redistricting after the 2020 Census.

The group submitted its petitions in November with 425,000 signatures, well beyond the 315,354 needed.

The petitions have been challenged by Citizens Protecting Michigan's Constitution, whose backers include the Michigan Chamber of Commerce. The CPMC claimed the peititons didn't list all of the sections of the state constitution that would be abrogated by the plan, and therefore shouldn't be placed on the ballot.

Citizens Protecting Michigan's Constitution also argued Voters Not Politicians' initiative is a "massive revision" of the constitution, not an amendment.

The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Voters Not Politicians on June 7, and ordered the Board of State Canvassers to put the proposal on the ballot.

The Michigan Supreme Court refused a request by the Citizens Protecting Michigan's Constitution to issue a stay before the Board of Canvassers' meeting, although the court has not issued a final ruling on the CPMC's appeal.