Bridge Detroit (https://www.bridgedetroit.com/tag/bridge-michigan/)
A citizen group created to end a closed-door process heeds advice of lawyers and keeps documents private.
For the first time in years, incumbency wasn’t a consideration in drawing new districts. That means dozens may have to face each other in legislative races, a Bridge analysis finds.
Testing too early after you’ve been exposed to COVID, or “panic testing,” will likely offer little more than a false sense of security. With holidays beckoning, this “gray zone” in testing could unwittingly spread infection.
Other states have ‘unpacked’ districts to make legislatures more competitive without diluting minority voices. Can Michigan?
Residents push back against legislative maps that leave Michigan with one of 161 districts with more than 50 percent Black voters residents, who said the maps further disenfranchise voters of color.
Michigan currently has 17 majority-Black districts. But in the 10 proposed maps released by the commission last week, only one district would have a voting age population of more than 50 percent African-American.
Eight incumbents would be clustered in districts with at least another representative. The maps now go to the public for hearings before final approval.
Detroit gains districts, Republicans could keep control, but new maps also provide a path for far closer elections in the Michigan House.
More drafts are on the way, and the vote wasn’t without some dissent.
Despite gerrymandering claims, new maps from an independent group could give the GOP a bigger edge than they had when districts were drawn in secret.