Michigan s Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission voted down a measure calling for the panel to begin meetings with the Pledge of Allegiance, with those against the recital arguing it would cause too much division.
The commission tasked with redrawing Michigan s voting boundaries has been meeting for about seven months without saying the pledge at the beginning of meetings but took a vote Thursday after a commissioner recommended they begin reciting the pledge at the start of sessions.
The 13-member commission voted the suggestion down 7-5, with one member not voting. Those in favor included three Republican members and two nonaffiliated members.
The Daily Telegram
Michigan voters overwhelmingly passed Proposal 2 in 2018, which called for a Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission (MICRC). This opened the process that previously took place behind closed doors and was heavily influenced by the political party in power.
A transparent redistricting process in Michigan gives voters, instead of politicians, the power to choose who represents them in the redistricting of legislative/congressional maps. Redistricting, which is done every 10 years and follows the taking of the census, was inherently political. When politicians are given the power to draw the lines, they often manipulate them to keep their party in power. This independent process gives Michigan citizens the power to draw the state’s new legislative districts based on census data, federal law and prioritized criteria as stated in the Michigan Constitution.
Karl Manke, a Michigan barber who defied state COVID-19 restrictions, has been fined $9,000 for violations including carrying a comb in his pocket. Manke and his attorney David Kallman join Fox & Friends.
A video obtained by Fox News shows the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission rejecting a request to start their meetings with the Pledge of Allegiance, with some members calling the pledge divisive and contentious.
The first item of business on the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission s docket Thursday was a request by Commissioner Doug Clark to recite the Pledge of Allegiance prior to the group s meetings to decide how both state and federal congressional districts would look in the state.
Citizens excluded from serving on Michigan’s independent redistricting commission argued before an appeals panel that the state cannot draw arbitrary lines between levels of partisan activity to preclude eligibility.
An election worker helps a voter with his ballot in Lansing, Mich., on Election Day, Nov. 3, 2020 (AP Photo/Matthew Dae Smith via Lansing State Journal)
CINCINNATI (CN) A group of Michigan citizens deemed ineligible for positions on a redistricting commission and the state’s Republican Party argued on Wednesday that eligibility criteria designed to reduce partisanship among committee members violate their constitutional rights.
The plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit came before the Sixth Circuit for a second time, after an interlocutory appeal was rejected in April 2020.
Stateside s conversation with John Lindstrom
Michigan’s new Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission, which was approved by voters in 2018, is continuing its work of drawing new congressional and legislative districts for the state. In recent weeks, the commission has encountered some challenges related to timing and funding, especially as 2020 Census data needed for the process won’t be available until July. As the group continues meeting virtually which members of the public are encouraged to get involved in
Stateside took a look at the history of the representation Michigan has now, and why there’s been a movement to change the state’s legislative map.