The Secretary of State on Monday unveiled a new website providing information about how the commission drawing Michigan’s political districts will be chosen.
The website provides more details about the 13 member redistricting commission, which was overwhelmingly approved by voters in 2018.
Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said the goal of the website is to ensure transparency at every step of this process.
“One thing that this website will provide when the commission is meeting is software and data for citizens to draw their own maps and submit them to the commission for consideration.”
Benson said the website will also host applications for people that want to apply to be on the commission. The only people who can’t apply to be on the commission are people who previously worked in a political office or for a political party.
“Really all a citizen needs to decide in thinking about in whether or not they want to apply is whether or not this is something they care about if they want to do the job, and if they want to be a part of making Michigan history.”
Benson said leaders from both parties will be able to strike down applicants who are seen as too partisan. But, each party will only be given five such strikes.
Benson said the final board will be made up of 8 commissioners who are party affiliated and 5 who are not.
“Our job at the Secretary of State’s office is to ensure effective representation from around the State. Having people from the UP, having people from Northern Michigan, as well as downstate on the board, will be critical.”
Those applications will be made available sometime in the fall of this year.
The final commission will be selected by September of 2020.