This Fall is certainly shaping up to be very busy with two significant issues in which our local League will be engaged: 

The Attack on Voting Rights.  Michigan, like other battleground states, has a legislature with members working in coordination with well-financed national groups in an attempt to pass bills that will make it harder to vote. Specifically, 39 Michigan Senate bills were introduced at the end of March, with the Michigan Senate Elections Committee taking testimony on all of these bills. Six bills have been reported out of committee. The remaining bills are still in the Sensate Elections Committee awaiting further action. If these bills pass, they will limit access to voting and will change the administration of elections. The Legislature is on break until the end of August and no action has been taken. It is anticipated that a petition/initiative will be introduced soon after the Legislature is back in session. The League opposes all of these bills.  For a complete list of the bills and the rationale for The League’s opposition, go to lwvmi.org (League denounces bills ...) For copies of the bills, go to www.legislature.mi.gov. The Governor has said she will veto these bills. The Republicans have yet to decide to initiate a law to circumvent the legislative process. For now, our local League is working in coordination with the other Michigan Leagues and organizations committed to safe, secure and fair elections.

Redistricting Commission Update:  The initial public hearings and taking public comments on Communities of Interest has been completed and now it’s on to the next phase requiring the Commission to start developing draft maps to share with the public in a second round of public hearings. It should be noted that on July 9, the Michigan Supreme Court denied the Commission's request for a waiver of the Constitution’s requirement that all redistricting maps be approved by November 1, 2021, due to the late delivery of the 2020 Census data. The Court denied the request to give an “anticipatory” waiver and said they would consider the issue if a lawsuit was filed against the Commission at a later date for failing to meet the constitutionally required deadline. The Commission adopted a Timeline and Roadmap for accomplishing their work on developing maps, which will not be affected by the Court’s denial of the waiver request.  Please note that all mapping will be done by the entire Commission during meetings which are live streamed on YouTube . (See Michigan.gov/MICRC for the meeting schedule.) 

Commission Next Steps: On July 1, the MICRC adopted a Timeline and Roadmap for accomplishing their work. This Timeline will not be affected by the Court’s denial of the waiver request.

Excerpts from the Timeline and Roadmap:

July 22- August 13: Commission starts mapping from “scratch”, not the current maps, and beginning with the state Senate districts. They will use the 2015-2019 American Community Survey data. 

August 30-September 30: Commission drafts maps using “Legacy” data (released by the Census Bureau on August 16).

September 30: Census Bureau releases redistricting Census data.

September 30-October 6: Commission adjusts maps using September 30 Census data.

October 4-22: Commission holds second round of 8 Public Hearings across the state.

October 25-November 12: Commission develops proposed maps.

November 16: Commission publishes proposed maps for Michigan Legislature and U.S. Congress.

December 31, 2021: MICRC votes on final maps.

March 1, 2022: Maps become law.