As vote-by-mail ballots start appearing for Michiganders, there’s an ongoing legal dispute about whose interests should carry representative weight when it comes to drawing legislative districts. Six state Senate districts stand at the center of that debate.
A lawsuit, brought by a group of Southeast Michigan voters, allege that the maps drawn by the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission amounted to racial gerrymandering. The court agreed and mandated that the commission draw new maps. The redrawn maps for state Senate districts are now awaiting final court approval.
Map changes for this year’s election are already done. The ones just submitted to the court will matter when we vote in 2026. But they're a window into the contentious process behind the state's first citizen-led redistricting process.
We talked out the details of the lawsuit and the new maps with reporters Colin Jackson and Clara Hendrickson.
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GUESTS ON TODAY’S SHOW:
- Clara Hendrickson, politics reporter for the Detroit Free Press
- Colin Jackson, reporter for the Michigan public Radio Network
