Opinion ID: 4525690
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Structure of the Commission

Text: Article IV, § 6 of the amended Michigan Constitution sets forth the eligibility criteria for membership on the newly created “independent citizens redistricting commission” (the “Commission”), as follows: (1) An independent citizens redistricting commission for state legislative and congressional districts (hereinafter, the “commission”) is hereby established as a permanent commission in the legislative branch. The commission shall consist of 13 commissioners. The commission shall adopt a redistricting plan for each of the following types of districts: state senate districts, state house of representative districts, and congressional districts. Each commissioner shall: (a) Be registered and eligible to vote in the state of Michigan; (b) Not currently be or in the past 6 years have been any of the following: (i) A declared candidate for partisan federal, state, or local office; (ii) An elected official to partisan federal, state, or local office; (iii) An officer or member of the governing body of a national, state, or local political party; (iv) A paid consultant or employee of a federal, state, or local elected official or political candidate, of a federal, state, or local political candidate’s campaign, or of a political action committee; (v) An employee of the legislature; (vi) Any person who is registered as a lobbyist agent with the Michigan bureau of elections, or any employee of such person; or (vii) An unclassified state employee who is exempt from classification in state civil service pursuant to article XI, section 5, except for employees of courts of record, employees of the state institutions of higher education, and persons in the armed forces of the state; (c) Not be a parent, stepparent, child, stepchild, or spouse of any individual disqualified under part (1)(b) of this section; or (d) Not be otherwise disqualified for appointed or elected office by this constitution. (e) For five years after the date of appointment, a commissioner is ineligible to hold a partisan elective office at the state, county, city, village, or township level in Michigan. Id. Nos. 19-2377/2420 Daunt et al. v. Benson et al. Page 5 Section 2 of article IV sets forth the process by which the Secretary of State selects commissioners, as follows: (a) The secretary of state shall do all of the following: (i) Make applications for commissioner available to the general public not later than January 1 of the year of the federal decennial census. The secretary of state shall circulate the applications in a manner that invites wide public participation from different regions of the state. The secretary of state shall also mail applications for commissioner to ten thousand Michigan registered voters, selected at random, by January 1 of the year of the federal decennial census. (ii) Require applicants to provide a completed application. (iii) Require applicants to attest under oath that they meet the qualifications set forth in this section; and either that they affiliate with one of the two political parties with the largest representation in the legislature (hereinafter, “major parties”), and if so, identify the party with which they affiliate, or that they do not affiliate with either of the major parties. (b) Subject to part (2)(c) of this section, the secretary of state shall mail additional applications for commissioner to Michigan registered voters selected at random until 30 qualifying applicants that affiliate with one of the two major parties have submitted applications, 30 qualifying applicants that identify that they affiliate with the other of the two major parties have submitted applications, and 40 qualifying applicants that identify that they do not affiliate with either of the two major parties have submitted applications, each in response to the mailings. (c) The secretary of state shall accept applications for commissioner until June 1 of the year of the federal decennial census. (d) By July 1 of the year of the federal decennial census, from all of the applications submitted, the secretary of state shall: (i) Eliminate incomplete applications and applications of applicants who do not meet the qualifications in parts (1)(a) through (1)(d) of this section based solely on the information contained in the applications; (ii) Randomly select 60 applicants from each pool of affiliating applicants and 80 applicants from the pool of non-affiliating applicants. 50% of each pool shall be populated from the qualifying applicants to such pool who returned an application mailed pursuant to part 2(a) or 2(b) of this section, provided, that if fewer than 30 qualifying applicants affiliated with a major party or fewer than 40 qualifying non-affiliating applicants have applied to serve on the commission in response to the random mailing, the balance of the pool shall be populated from the balance of qualifying applicants to that pool. The random selection process used by Nos. 19-2377/2420 Daunt et al. v. Benson et al. Page 6 the secretary of state to fill the selection pools shall use accepted statistical weighting methods to ensure that the pools, as closely as possible, mirror the geographic and demographic makeup of the state; and (iii) Submit the randomly-selected applications to the majority leader and the minority leader of the senate, and the speaker of the house of representatives and the minority leader of the house of representatives. (e) By August 1 of the year of the federal decennial census, the majority leader of the senate, the minority leader of the senate, the speaker of the house of representatives, and the minority leader of the house of representatives may each strike five applicants from any pool or pools, up to a maximum of 20 total strikes by the four legislative leaders. (f) By September 1 of the year of the federal decennial census, the secretary of state shall randomly draw the names of four commissioners from each of the two pools of remaining applicants affiliating with a major party, and five commissioners from the pool of remaining non-affiliating applicants. Id. Commissioners hold office until the Commission has completed its obligations for the census cycle. Id. § 18. They receive compensation equal to at least 25 percent of the governor’s salary, and the State reimburses them for costs incurred if the legislature does not appropriate sufficient funds to cover these costs. Id. § 5. With respect to the Commission’s operations, “[a] final decision of the commission to adopt a redistricting plan requires a majority vote of the commission, including at least two commissioners who affiliate with each major party, and at least two commissioners who do not affiliate with either major party.” Id. § 14(c). Commissioners are required to “abide by the following criteria in proposing and adopting” these plans: (a) Districts shall be of equal population as mandated by the United States constitution, and shall comply with the voting rights act and other federal laws. (b) Districts shall be geographically contiguous. Island areas are considered to be contiguous by land to the county of which they are a part. (c) Districts shall reflect the state’s diverse population and communities of interest. Communities of interest may include, but shall not be limited to, populations that share cultural or historical characteristics or economic interests. Communities of interest do not include relationships with political parties, incumbents, or political candidates. Nos. 19-2377/2420 Daunt et al. v. Benson et al. Page 7 (d) Districts shall not provide a disproportionate advantage to any political party. A disproportionate advantage to a political party shall be determined using accepted measures of partisan fairness. (e) Districts shall not favor or disfavor an incumbent elected official or a candidate. (f) Districts shall reflect consideration of county, city, and township boundaries. (g) Districts shall be reasonably compact. Id. § 13. The Amendment includes the following provision regulating the commissioners’ ability to speak publicly about their duties: The commission, its members, staff, attorneys, and consultants shall not discuss redistricting matters with members of the public outside of an open meeting of the commission, except that a commissioner may communicate about redistricting matters with members of the public to gain information relevant to the performance of his or her duties if such communication occurs (a) in writing or (b) at a previously publicly noticed forum or town hall open to the general public. Id. § 11.