During an hour-long virtual public meeting on Thursday, the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission (MICRC) voted to appeal a federal decision to redraw 13 state House and Senate districts in metro Detroit.
A panel of three federal judges found on Dec. 21 that the MICRC diluted Black voting power in Detroit with the new voting maps drawn in 2021, violating the Voting Rights Act (VRA). by predominantly drawing several voting districts on the basis of race. The districts, currently held by Democrats, will have to be redrawn before there can be any elections held in those districts.
Bombshell ruling requires 13 Michigan districts to be redrawn before 2024 election
The MICRC meeting was called only a handful of hours before it was held. It came ahead of a federal hearing to consider recommendations for a special master scheduled for Friday.
The MICRC was created by a 2018 constitutional amendment passed by voters. The 13-member body has four Republicans, four Democrats and five independents and drew the maps used for the first time during the 2022 election. Previously, the Legislature would design new districts every 10 years and the governor would sign off.
After their names were randomly drawn this week, three new members of the panel were present at the meeting: Elaine Andrade of Imlay City, a Democrat; Donna Callaghan of Farmington Hills, a Democrat; and Marcus Muldoon of Lincoln Park, a Republican.
The vote to appeal the decision was 8-1, with Republican Commissioner Erin Wagner and Andrade abstaining. Democratic Commissioner Brittni Kellom of Detroit opposed the motion to appeal the ruling.
The lawsuit was filed in March 2022 by a group of Black metro Detroit voters.
“We cannot rely on an embattled and inept entity such as the [MICRC] which was misguided from the onset to ignore the citizens of Detroit during countless hearings, to now get this right,” said Sherry Gay-Dagnogo, a Black Democratic former state House member part of the suit. “There should be nothing about us, without us. We are calling for a Special Master to work with a body of Detroit stakeholders, our plaintiffs, and attorneys to draw fair. balanced, and constitutionally sound districts.”
One of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs is John Bursch, a former state solicitor general under GOP former Attorney General Bill Schuette who has represented anti-LGBTQ+ rights and anti-abortion causes.
If the ruling stands, the commission faces an aggressive timeline before the filing deadline for the 2024 election is April 23. For context, it took the commission more than a year to approve the maps at the end of 2021 that were used for the 2022 election.
Gay-Dagnogo blasted the MICRC’s decision.
“The redistricting commission has already wasted $5M of taxpayers dollars fighting a textbook case of voter discrimination,” Gay-Dagnogo said. “It’s clear that they are not the independent body that the referendum sought to create. They were misled by their experts from the inception using improper data and racial quotas and it’s clear that they are being misguided now.
“The question taxpayers should have is: ‘Who’s pulling the strings now?’ How could any reasonable minded person that has heard the evidence from this case waste more Michigan taxpayers dollars to further disenfranchise Black voters with maps that clearly violate the Voting Rights Act and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.”
The MICRC decided to hold its next meeting in the Detroit area in mid-January or early February.
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