How A Michigan Citizen Committee Is Trying To Stop Gerrymandering | 1A

With the 2020 census currently underway, the redrawing of electoral districts is soon to follow. It’s a part of as gerrymandering, the process by which local, state, and national jurisdictions take stock of their demographics and change their district boundaries. The move is notorious among both Democrats and Republicans for having the ability to skew political power and divide constituent votes.

But in Michigan, the newly-minted Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission is meant to stop the tipping of the scales from those in power. As the first state in the country to end gerrymandering with independent citizen oversight, it could introduce a new vision for drawing district lines by calling on a group of constituents to decide where those boundaries lie. It’s among other state efforts that some voting advocates say would reform the current process.