Article content

DETROIT — Voters in Michigan will decide in November whether to entrust how their voting districts are drawn to an independent commission rather than the Legislature, which could alter the balance of power in a state that Republicans have controlled since 2010 and where Donald Trump eked out the slimmest of victories two years ago.

Three other states have redistricting initiatives on this year’s ballots and there are ongoing legal challenges to the political boundaries in about a dozen states that claim they are the result of political or racial gerrymandering — the process by which districts are drawn to favour the party in power.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Michigan voters to decide how their electoral maps are drawn Back to video

The issue is particularly charged in Michigan, a battleground state in presidential elections that has some of the most Republican-skewed legislative districts in the nation, according to an Associated Press analysis .

Michigan is getting significant attention from anti-gerrymandering advocates, even as national Democratic and Republican groups are pouring millions of dollars into state races seeking to ensure they have officeholders in position to influence the next round of redistricting, in 2020. A Democratic redistricting group led by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder recently announced a $250,000 donation to bolster Michigan’s ballot proposal. The money will aid Voters Not Politicians, whose organizers successfully qualified the constitutional amendment for the November ballot.