A panel of three federal judges ruled on Dec. 21, 2023 , that a few state House and Senate legislative maps drawn by an independent Michigan commission violate the Voting Rights Act . Their ruling, which is currently under appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, says the maps dilute Black voting power in 13 Detroit area legislative districts and those districts must be redrawn.
The Conversation interviewed Marjorie Sarbaugh-Thompson and Lyke Thompson , professors of political science at Wayne State University who have written about the redistricting commission .
Can you tell us about the commission?
The Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission was created by a statewide ballot initiative to purge partisan politics from redistricting. The initiative passed in 2018 with 61% support . The commissioners are citizen volunteers drawn randomly from three pools of applicants: four Democrats, four Republicans and five nonpartisans. Our research found that Michigan’s commission has more members not affiliated with a political party than any other state redistricting commission.