A couple hundred volunteers showed up at the state Bureau of Elections Monday.
People formed a line, and stood shoulder to shoulder as they passed 188 boxes containing petitions from the back of a truck to the front door of the elections bureau.
The “Voters Not Politicians” proposal would create a 13-person independent redistricting commission, which would take the job of drawing congressional and legislative district lines from the Legislature.
“Voters Not Politicians” leader Katie Fahey says she’s confident the question is going on the 2018 ballot.
Fred Woodhams is with the Michigan Bureau of Elections. He says the next step is for the agency to review the petitions and a send a report to a state elections board.
“So they need more than 300 thousand valid signatures to amend the constitution. It would go to the Board of State Canvassers for approval, and if approved, it would go to voters in November.”
Katie Fahey is one of the leaders of the drive.
“Our proposal will take redistricting out of the hands of politicians and lobbyists who do their work behind closed doors, and bring it out into the public so, people are working on this. Yes!”
The proposal would create a 13-person independent redistricting commission that would convene after every US Census.
The next step is for a state elections board to certify the signatures are valid. If that happens, the question would be the first to qualify for the November 2018 ballot.