The following can be attributed to Nancy Wang, Executive Director of Voters Not Politicians, on the preliminary demographic, geographic, and party affiliation data of applicants to Michigan’s first Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission released today by the Michigan Department of State:
“We celebrate the fact that a broad geographic distribution of voters have applied to serve on Michigan’s first Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission, but understand that more education and outreach must be done. Our priority is to get as many people from as many backgrounds, races, ages, and political views involved, and we will continue to work with partners and community organizations to make sure more voters, especially those in historically underrepresented communities, apply to serve and prepare to provide testimony about their communities in the public hearing process. It is imperative that we have diverse participation in the new redistricting process to ensure Michiganders are represented and feel heard.”
Voters Not Politicians has launched a digital advertising campaign to encourage voters to apply and has hosted 43 in-person application workshops across the state in cities including Detroit, Flint, Pontiac, Jackson, Benzonia, South Haven, and Sault Ste. Marie to provide support, including free notary services, for voters interested in applying to serve on the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission. Voters Not Politicians will hold at least 120 application workshops during the application period, which ends June 1, 2020. A list of upcoming application workshops is available at www.votersnotpoliticians.com/events.
Preliminary demographic, geographic, and party affiliation data regarding applicants to the Commission are available on the Secretary of State’s website at MichiganRedistricting.org. The Michigan Department of State also released the proposed methodology for the random selection of commissioners based on demographic and geographic weighting.
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Voters Not Politicians is a nonpartisan advocacy organization that works to strengthen democracy by engaging people across Michigan in effective citizen action. Learn more at www.votersnotpoliticians.com.