The Headlines This week, both Voters Not Politicians and the MICRC launched the first phases of work in the state senate redraw process. VNP hosted a virtual Michigan Redistricting town hall to reach out to voters in affected districts, as the commission heard expert presentations and presented their full redraw timeline at their meeting on April 18th. And for decades, Michigan has lagged behind other states in ethics and transparency in our state government. Now, the consequences of our weak standards couldn’t be more obvious, as a former House Speaker has been charged with 13 felony counts f ..read more

Special elections for two vacant seats in the Michigan house of representatives flipped control back to Democrats, who organizers say could use their restored trifecta in the state to pass legislation protecting voting rights and election administration. A push to codify voter protections stalled after two Democratic lawmakers resigned and the party lost its majority in the house of representatives last November. With the election on Tuesday of Mai Xiong and Peter Herzberg, who represent sections of Detroit and its suburbs, legislators could use their newfound majorities to renew those ef ..read more

Despite federal laws regulating how polls must accommodate voters, a recent audit of 261 polling places in Metro Detroit found that voter-assist terminals were often not plugged in, missing headphones, showing error codes, or placed in ways that did not guarantee privacy. The greatest barrier to voting at these locations: a lack of accessible entrances. This included a lack of clearly marked entrances, buildings with stairs but no ramps, or ramps blocked by parked cars or signs. The most widespread issue was not having a fully set up wheelchair accessible voting booth. Only 16 percen ..read more

April 10, 2024 | Volume 6, No. 4 Hi Friend, If, like me, you spent most of March wading through the various legal filings in the Agee v Benson federal case, then you already know the good news: the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission successfully adopted revised Michigan state house maps to meet the requirements of the federal court! You can read more details of how we got to this point in this month’s blog post below.  We at Voters Not Politicians have always had faith in the constitutional amendment we designed and most importantly, in the voters who support independ ..read more

The Headlines A brand new legal filing in Agee v Benson is giving us a clearer picture of the next phase of this redraw process. Both parties in the case have agreed to a proposed timeline for the state senate redraw, which would see a final map approved by the end of July.   And Voters Not Politicians Education Fund (Voters Ed Fund) is continuing to build relationships and strengthen partnerships with key stakeholders in our My City Votes communities. This includes Muskegon Heights, where we recently joined with Black Wall Street of Muskegon to present a candidate forum ahead of the ..read more

Voters Not Politicians is known for our army of dedicated volunteers, often seen out and about with clipboards and literature in hand. But volunteers play a big role behind the scenes as well.  Jeffrey Hoang, a student at Eastern Michigan University, volunteered to assist our Communications team this spring, and made his impact on VNP in just a few short weeks, all from behind his computer screen!  Jeffrey is a senior at Eastern Michigan University who will graduate this spring with a double major in political science and communication. As a native Michigander with a passion for dem ..read more

Last month, we updated you on the latest developments in the court-ordered redraw of Detroit-area Michigan House districts. Since then, the court approved the maps submitted by the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission, and both Voters Not Politicians and the MICRC have begun preparing for the state senate redraw.  Here’s how we got here and what happens next.  On February 28, the MICRC voted to send the Motown Sound FC E1 map to the court. The plaintiffs in Agee v. Benson then had the opportunity to file their objections to the commission’s map. Their main arguments ..read more

The Headlines Now that the court has accepted the remedial maps submitted by the MICRC, the commission is preparing to quickly move on to the senate redraw phase. The voided state senate districts (1, 3, 6, 8, 10, and 11) represent over 1.5 million Michiganders who will need to be kept informed and engaged during the next few months of this redraw process.   Voters Not Politicians is also working in coalition to support a legislative reform to secure Michigan’s place as a national leader in safeguarding the right to vote. The Michigan Voting Rights Act is the next step in strengtheni ..read more

A federal court this week approved a new plan for Michigan’s state House districts around metro-Detroit. That’s after judges declared seven districts in the old map unconstitutional because they were drawn predominantly based on race, in violation of the 14th Amendment. The decision means maps drawn by the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission will be used in the November general election, rather than a backup plan drawn by a court-appointed expert. That’s good news to Voters Not Politicians Executive Director Jamie Lyons-Eddy. In 2018, Voters Not Politicians spearhe ..read more

The federal three-judge panel overseeing the redrawing of Detroit’s state House districts on Wednesday ruled that the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission Motown Sound FC E1 remedy map meets muster with federal law and will therefore be implemented for the upcoming 2024 elections. In a per curiam opinion released in Agee v. Benson (USWDM Docket No. 22-00272), the federal panel said there was no basis to reject the remedial House plan that changed 15 districts overall after seven were ruled unconstitutional. The commission was sued for violating the U.S. Constitutio ..read more