Since the completion of the 2020 U.S. Census, the boundaries of electoral districts at all levels of government have had to be redrawn. By law, all electoral districts in the United States, except for the U.S. Senate, must be comprised of roughly equal populations. This applies to national bodies like the U.S. House of Representatives, state bodies like the State of Michigan House of Representatives and the State of Michigan Senate and local bodies like the Genesee County Commission and Flint City Council.
Throughout 2021, new districts have been drawn or are being drawn for these elected offices, and below is an update as of early December.
State of Michigan
Thanks to the passage of Proposal 2 in 2018, redistricting of the U.S. House of Representatives, State House of Representatives and State Senate are done by the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission. This proposal established a commission of 13 registered voters randomly selected through an application process. Of the 13 commissioners, four affiliate with the Democratic Party, four affiliate with the Republican Party and five do not affiliate with either major political party.
After many meetings throughout 2021, the commission has proposed a set of five draft U.S. House of Representatives maps, six draft Michigan Senate maps and four Michigan House of Representatives maps. These maps reflect thousands of resident comments made throughout the process in 2021, with several rounds of public hearings, online comments, written comments and more incorporated into these maps. The commission is taking public comment on these maps in several ways:
- View proposed maps and make public comments at https://tinyurl.com/MICRCProposedMaps
- Attend in person or virtually the 12/16/2021 MICRC Meeting. Find more information at https://tinyurl.com/MICRCMtg
- Register to make a public comment by phone via 211.
- Mail comments to:
MICRC
P.O. Box 30318
Lansing, MI 48909
Many residents and organizations in Flint have been working collaboratively to propose alternative maps to the commission. Specifically, NextVote has submitted a map that incorporated a priority map from Flint residents (labeled P7273 on the commission’s submission portal). NextVote took that Flint-specific piece of the map and incorporated it into an overall State House of Representatives map for all of Michigan. They also worked to reconfigure districts to take into account communities of interest across the state and to take into account partisan fairness across the state. That map is number P9240 in the commission’s submission portal.
The commission must adopt final maps by December 31, 2021. The commission is currently scheduled to do so at its December 30, 2021 meeting.
Genesee County
The Genesee County Board of Commissioners is composed of nine members elected by districts in the county. Every 10 years, the County’s Apportionment Commission approves new boundary lines to ensure that districts are composed of roughly equal population. This commission is composed of the heads of the county Republican and Democratic Parties, as well as the county clerk-register, county treasurer and county prosecutor.
After meeting during 2021, the Apportionment Commission adopted a new map for the boundaries of the county commission on October 21, 2021.
City of Flint
The city of Flint’s Election Commission, comprised of the city clerk, city assessor and the assistant city attorney, is revising the ward boundaries for all nine wards. The new boundaries must be drawn by February 2022. The commission will be holding regular public hearings and has released an initial draft map, subject to change.
In order to be involved, keep an eye on cityofflint.com or sign up for updates with Communities First.
HOW TO BE INVOLVED
If you would like to be involved as the State of Michigan and city of Flint maps are finalized, feel free to call or email Joel Arnold, planning and advocacy coordinator, at (810) 422-5358 x. 1007 or jarnold@communitiesfirstinc.org.
This update was provided courtesy of Communities First Inc.
