The Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission advanced a set of maps this week for state House, Senate and Congressional districts for public comment.
Commissioner Anthony Eid said he feels good about what the commission accomplished.
“And I think the product we came up with — all nine of the maps — represents a level of fairness that has never been seen in our state,” Eid said.
Individual commissioners also have until noon on Monday to submit their own maps as well. But that is prompting concerns about whether the constitution allows for the submission of maps by individual commissioners for public comment.
The commission voted to hold another meeting next week to receive further legal advice on the matter after deciding Thursday to allow the move
The commission’s general counsel, Julianne Pastula, told the commission it shouldn’t wait for the next public hearings to discuss that advice.
“If you needed to modify a decision, if you wanted to say, ‘Nope, we’re good. We’re publishing everything in this manner.’ But if you’re not in a meeting, you won’t have the opportunity as a full body to do that. So, it has to be in a meeting,” Pastula said.
Each of the proposed maps will undergo a 45-day public comment period. Hearings are scheduled to start on Nov. 18 and run every other Thursday through Dec. 30 when the commission would vote on final maps.
If the commission can’t reach a decision, random maps would be drawn for publishing.
In addition to allowing the individually submitted maps, the commission Thursday also voted to only allow maps that have gone through that 45-day period to be part of that pool to pick from.