Voters have overwhelmingly passed Proposal 18-2, amending the Michigan Constitution to move redistricting out of the Legislature and to a commission.
The proposal did well all across the state.
The proposal, which amends the Michigan Constitution, creates an independent citizen commission that will redraw the congressional district lines every 10 years.
Listen above to hear Stateside's conversation with Katie Fahey, the executive director of Voters Not Politicians.
It was started by a group called Voters Not Politicians and looked to end gerrymandering in Michigan. The battle went all the way to the Michigan Supreme Court before ending up on the ballot.
Katie Fahey is founder and executive director of Voters Not Politicians. She told a jubilent crowd of supporters Tuesday night that Michigan elections will be more fair in the future.
"So that we can have more competitive elections, so that we have politicians that are worried about listening to people instead of just special interests," she said.
The independent commission consists of 13 people: four Republicans, four Democrats, and five Independents. That commission would then be tasked with drawing the new state lines that are "geographically compact and contiguous districts of equal population."
There are several restrictions for the people who serve on the commission. The Michigan Secretary of State will mail applications for the commission to at least 10,000 randomly selected registered voters, and from those applicants, they will select 60 Republicans, 60 Democrats and 80 Independents. The majority and minority leaders of the state House and Senate will be able to strike up to five applications each, and then the Secretary of State will randomly select the final commission.
