The Headlines
New Michigan House map remedies racial concerns that led to redraw, special master says Detroit News, March 18, 2024
This week Bernard Grofman, the Reviewing Special Master assigned by the federal court, filed his review of the proposed maps submitted by the MICRC.
- Voters Not Politicians is very encouraged by Grofman’s conclusion that he “did not identify major flaws with the MI-IRC map that would suggest it failed to address the race-related constitutional concerns of the Court.”
- As a reminder, the Reviewing Special Master is separate from the Mapping Special Master. The Mapping Special Master, Michael Barber, drafted a separate set of maps that has not been made public and will only be used if the court rejects the commission’s maps.
- Reviewing Special Master Grofman, who has a strong reputation as an impartial expert, was actually not on the list of special master candidates proposed by both parties in the case. Rather, the court selected Grofman, over plaintiffs’ objections. It would be very surprising if the court did not rule in accordance with his report.
The MICRC also filed its response to the plaintiffs’ objections to their remedial state house mapping plan. In our view, they dealt with the plaintiffs’ points effectively and backed up their arguments with expert analysis. They also provided evidence that among the members of the public who supported the Motown Sound map was in fact one of the plaintiffs, Donyale Stephen-Atara.
VNP Program Highlight
Voters Not Politicians volunteers are giving presentations about new voting rights in their local communities!
Voters Not Politicians volunteers are eager to share Michigan’s new voting rights thanks to Proposal 22-2, the constitutional amendment they helped put on the ballot and get passed. So far this year, volunteers have already reached 450 voters with information on early voting, the permanent mailed ballot list, and other voting access improvements, and they are just getting started.
What’s Next
Both parties in the redraw case have until March 25th to file briefs in response to Grofman’s report, and the court has said it would approve a remedial house districting plan, either the commission’s maps or the one drawn by the Mapping Special Master, by March 29. We will of course be sharing the latest news with you as soon as we have it.
Once a set of House maps have been approved by the court, the parties must agree to a timeline for the Michigan Senate district redraw. That timeline will be decided by April 12.
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