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Only one-fourth of draft Senate district voting plans were fairer than a previous, unconstitutional map from 2021, a coalition of Michigan advocates found in a new analysis.
Jamie Lyons-Eddy, executive director of the nonpartisan group Voters Not Politicians, said she expected more than three of the 12 maps to be fairer than the unconstitutional districts from 2021.
Jamie Lyons-Eddy, deputy director of Voters Not Politicians, July 11, 2022 | Laina G. Stebbins
“I think it’s absolutely possible to meet the federal requirements to provide more opportunity districts for historically marginalized communities, to respect communities of interest and it’s better on partisan fairness,” Lyons-Eddy said.
Michigan’s congressional and state legislative voting districts are drawn up by the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission (MICRC), which is a relatively new process. Michigan voters approved a ballot initiative in 2018’s midterm election to move the district redrawing responsibility away from legislators and to the new 13-member panel, which is composed of four Republicans, four Democrats and five independents.
Voters not Politicians organized the ballot initiative process in 2018, and still is a watchdog for the process.
Now the MICRC is attempting to redraw several state Senate districts around Detroit and the metro area — for a second time.
A federal court last year found 13 House and Senate maps, called the Linden map, around the Detroit area had to be redrawn because the plan violated the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause, which protects access to voting. The court said the commission had diluted the power of Black voters in Detroit.
New House maps were approved by a federal court panel at the end of March and will be used for the 2024 election.
“Both in the House and the Senate redraw, they’ve been able to draw maps that do a considerably better job of giving historically marginalized communities an opportunity, a better opportunity to elect candidates of their choice,” Lyons-Eddy said.
The court gave the MICRC more time to redo the Senate maps, as the upper chamber isn’t up for reelection until 2026.
The MICRC submitted 12 new Senate draft redistricting maps near the end of May. The public comment and court deliberation process is expected to wrap up in late July.
Promote the Vote, a coalition of leaders from advocacy organizations around the state, independently scored the draft maps and found three were “fairer” than MICRC’s final map from 2021, based on a set of criteria. Maps Heron (376), Szetela (404) and Kellom (403) were deemed “fairer” than the Linden map.
The main issue voting advocates are looking for is “partisan fairness,” or how skewed a district map is to either political party. Maps can be drawn to either favor or dilute certain demographics, and the scorecards try to identify the political influence the boundaries have over election results.
“You want maps that lead to outcomes where the majority of votes gets the majority of seats,” Lyons-Eddy said.
One way the redraw process tried to be more “fair” than the original process was by turning off population data relating to race, according to Lyons-Eddy. It is unconstitutional to draw maps based on race, but the commission also performs an analysis to make sure minority populations are fairly represented.
Promote the Vote used criteria that attempted to break up the Detroit metro area into districts that would represent the majority vote and not minimize the voices of the Black population in the area. Some of the total 12 maps did better on portions of the criteria than others, but only three were found to holistically accomplish the fairness mandate.
Promote the Vote also looked at how many municipalities and counties were broken up by Senate districts. It is better if the entirety of a jurisdiction is in one Senate district, according to the scorecards.
But Lyons-Eddy said no test is a “silver bullet” for judging fairness. She said it is important to look at all factors and how they play out in individual elections to determine if a districting pattern will represent constituents.
MICRC Executive Director Edward Woods did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
The next step for the 12 Senate draft maps is public comment. Public comments are scheduled Thursday online and in Detroit next week. The official public comment period will close June 21.
“We would like to see the commission seriously consider and incorporate all public feedback and make sure they arrive at a final map that complies with the Voting Rights Act, that respects Michigan’s diverse communities of interest and gives voters partisan fairness across all districts,” Lyons-Eddy said.
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The post Analysis: Only 1/4 of Michigan Senate districts redrawn by MICRC are ‘fairer’ than previous map appeared first on Michigan Advance.