Posted on 07/31/2018 8:22:58 PM PDT by SMGFan
A measure seeking to establish an independent commission to draw Michigan's congressional districts will be allowed to appear on the ballot in November, the state's Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. The group Voters Not Politicians gathered nearly 400,000 signatures in an effort to get the proposal on the ballot, and the petition was certified by Michigan's Board of State Canvassers last month. But opponents of the measure, including Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, argued that it was too broad a proposal to be placed on the ballot and would require the state to hold a new constitutional convention.
The court rejected that argument, however, saying that the "proposal would leave the form and structure of the government essentially as it was envisioned in the 1963 Constitution."
If approved by voters in November, the measure would create an independent commission made up of four Democrats, four Republicans and five independents selected by Michigan's secretary of state.
That panel would be responsible for redrawing the state's congressional districts every 10 years. The goal, advocates say, is to end alleged partisan gerrymandering by state lawmakers, who are currently tasked with redistricting.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
These “independent” commissions ALWAYS end up being dominated by Leftists IMHO.
So... 9 from the Party of the SOS and 4 from the other Party.
Gee, they’re bound to be fair LOL!
So the Michigan Supreme Court sez a ballot that puts districting in the hands of an “independent” (leftist) council (recalling that our government is a REPRESENTATIVE government where the citizens have already voted in the people they want to do the districting) even though it’ll cause a constitutional crisis because FOR THE PEOPLEEEE...
But the California Supreme Court buries a ballot to break up California because it’ll cause a constitutional crisis... (read, not what the leftists wanted)
Huh...
Independent?
From just what exactly?
Yeah, I’d be curious how you go and find ‘independent’ members for this commission. I have my doubts that this will pass.
I would go and make these two suggestions:
1. You can only draw congressional districts along county lines.
2. Challenges via the court system after a redrawing ought to be severely limited.
While ending gerrymandering is a worthwhile cause, swapping the legislature for 9 people is no solution.
From just what exactly?
From being a member of any political party. It has nothing to do with a person's political leanings.
There are alot of theories about how Districts should be drawn.
Everybody has biasis on how to do it.
Outcomes matter.
Why let the unelected do it?
Why let the fascist Judges do it?
If they aren’t picking people at random, it’s political.
Good idea except that it will end up with
4 democrats
4 Rino’s
4 Liberal independents.
I grew up in Michigan and am familiar with the geography and population distribution of the state.
Rather than an “independent commission”, the state constitution should be amended to state principles of general applicability in drawing the districts for congress, the Michigan House of Representatives and the Michigan Senate.
This assumes that Michigan will lose one seat in the House after the 2020 Census, bringing its delegation to 13 seats. The current population of Michigan is about 9,962,000. This would mean that each of the 13 districts would contain slightly fewer than 770,000 residents.
1. Each county that contains 770,000 or more persons must have 1 or 2 districts that do not cross the lines of that county. Thus, Wayne County (Detroit) gets two whole districts. The remaining 260,000 people get combined with a contiguous county. Oakland County and Macomb County each get one seat, wholly contained within those counties.
2. All districts must be as compact as possible, and must follow county, city, township or ward boundaries where possible.
3. The counties over 200,000 persons in Michigan should be used to anchor districts, and may not be placed into multiple districts. Thus, Kent (Grand Rapids), Genesee (Flint), Kalamazoo (Kalamazoo), Ingham (Lansing), Ottawa (Grand Haven-Holland) and Washtenaw (Ann Arbor) must anchor districts and not be divvied up into multiple districts. Also, the Bay City/Saginaw/Midland three county area (they anchor a TV market and a regional airport) must be kept together.
4. The district containing the Upper Peninsula and the northernmost counties of the Lower Peninisula (currently a total of 33 counties, 15 of which are in the UP) must have a southern boundary which goes from Lake Michigan to Lake Huron which is as straight as possible.
The average size of a state House district is 91,000 (110 seats in the House). The average size of a state Senate district is 263,000 (38 seats). Use the same principles as above. Wayne County would get 19 seats in the House wholly within Wayne County. Counties such as Lapeer (immediately east of Genesee) and Grand Traverse (Traverse City), 150 miles north of Grand Rapids, with a population just below the 91,000 median size, would be kept together (court decisions allow a 5-10% deviation from the median, so county lines can be respected.
The intent is to create gerrymandering by people other than politicians so as to benefit Democrat politicians.
From the Democrat party, of course. Every one of these “independent” commissions does not but disenfranchise Republicans and should be gotten rid of wherever they are.
Look at AZ, which should have a 7R-2D delegation, the “Indy” commission drew it to give the Dems a 5D-4R majority (only with some difficulty did the GOP manage to get 1 seat to flip a majority GOP state to a 5R-4D breakdown).
WA state is another, which ought to have at least 5 or 6 GOP seats out of 10, and the GOP barely clings to 4.
CA is the true horror... a paltry 14 GOP seats (which are designed to drop even lower than that) out of 53, with Dems “holding” 39. Yeah, real independent.
State legislatures should be the only ones who get to draw the lines, period.
Does that mean the MI-SOS would select only the five independents or that he would select all members of the commission? If the latter, then the commission would be the MI-SOS's puppet.
“made up of four Democrats, four Republicans and five independents selected by Michigan’s secretary of state. “
OK, so it will be 9 demonrats and 4 Republicans. Seems fair./sarc
Guess who is butting in and pushing for this? He wants to "terminate" "gerrymandering" Republican majorities
That's right, Austrian Boi, the Kindergarten Cop , he doesn't deserve me even attempting to spell his stupid ****ing name.
This will pass. Other fools in other states have done much the same.
Still, I’m always amazed at how people will, when asked, so easily give up their sovereignty.
The timing of this is not a coincidence. The Democrats are running a very formidable candidate this year for secretary of state. Jocelyn Benson Is running on the Democratic ticket Unopposed. Republicans have controlled this office for as long as I can remember. This year, they have a three-way dog fight in the primary and the Democrats are loading up for this office.
Gerrymandering is atrocious on both sides. GOP in many stars and DNC in states like Maryland and others. Let the computers do it exclusively. Put in minority numbers to ensure laws are complied. Easy solution.
Good luck with that ‘independent’ commission. Arizona voted for one, 2 Dems, 2 Pubbies and 1 ‘independent’. Gov Brewer appointed the ‘independent’ who had lied and happened to be a Dem. The 3 dems met behind closed doors, created a Dem friendly map and voted on it. ALL of that was against the law. The gerrymandered Districts created a District for Kirsten Sinema and she, of course, won the newly created Dem District in 2012. This seat was her springboard for her Senate run this year. Don’t ever say the Dems aren’t incrementalists. Oh and BTW, Gov Brewer sued to overturn the new Dem friendly, gerrymandered Districts and a Leftist judge threw out her lawsuit, even though everything the Dems on the Commission did was lawless. The Dems OWN too many judges that are in their positions for life.
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