Redistricting in Michigan after the 2010 census

in Michigan

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Note: Redistricting takes place every 10 years after completion of the United States Census. The information here pertains to the 2010 redistricting process. For information on more recent redistricting developments, see this article.

Redistricting in Michigan

General information

Partisan control: Republican

Process: Legislative authority; Governor can veto

Deadline: None

Total seats

Congress: 14

State Senate: 38

State House: 110

This article details the timeline of redistricting events in Michigan following the 2010 census. It also provides contextual information about the redistricting process and census information.

Michigan gave up a Congressional seat as a result of the 2010 census. It was the only state to lose population. This marked the fourth consecutive decade in which Michigan lost a seat due to reapportionment.

Process

See also: State-by-state redistricting procedures

During the 2010 redistricting cycle, the Michigan State Legislature was responsible for redistricting. The redrawn maps were proposed and passed as ordinary legislation. The Governor of Michigan had the authority to veto any redistricting plan.

The Michigan Constitution outlined procedures in Article IV. However, provisions in the Article were struck down by the courts. Authority for the Legislature to redistrict came from Sections 3.61-64 and 4.261-263 of the Michigan Statutes control.^[1]

In 2011, redistricting work took cues from the guidelines established in the Congressional Redistricting Act, MCL 3.61 (PA 221 1996), and the Legislative Redistricting Act, (MCL 4.261). Both of these bills were passed by the Michigan legislature in the 1990s when the redistricting issued was heard by the Michigan Supreme Court.^[2]

Both Acts set out the following guidelines:

• a least cost principle, wherein municipalities smaller than the size of the average Congressional district should be incorporated within a Congressional seat
• Congressional districts must be of equal size, with a 95% to 105% tolerance range
• existing municipal and county boundaries should be respected as much as possible

Leadership

House redistricting committee

The members of the House Redistricting committee were:

The House Committee regularly met each Tuesday at 9:00 a.m. in room 521 of the House Office Building in Lansing.

The first committee meeting was held on February 22, 2011.^[3] Legislators later announced they would continue accepting proposed maps for both state and Congressional divisions through May 23, 2011.^[4]

Senate redistricting committee

The members of the Senate Redistricting committee were:

Census results

Michigan lost a congressional seat in the 2010 Census. As a result, Michigan was reduced from 15 to 14 congressional districts.^[5] Eight of ten largest cities lost population; of the two that did grow, neither surpassed the 5 percent mark.

At the same time that Michigan lost population, on the whole, the state's minority population as a percentage of the whole grew to 23.4 percent, up from 21.4 percent in 2000. That population also scattered geographically, particularly as minorities moved away from Detroit into the suburbs.^[6] Detroit lost enough population, including 25 percent of its minority voters, that it could fit into a single Congressional seat.^[7]

In areas where minority populations increased, triple-digit growth for both Blacks and Hispanics was common. The number of Black residents dramatically increased by 389 percent in Warren, 496 percent in Eastpointe, 260 percent in Melvindale, 80 percent in Kentwood, and 49 percent in Wyoming. Hispanic population increases posted similar numbers: 109 percent in Wyoming and 135 percent in Kentwood.

Congressional redistricting

June 2011: Republicans propose Congressional plan

Michigan Republicans released their proposed redistricting plan on June 17, 2011, detailing possible changes to the state's Senate, House, and Congressional districts. In the proposed Congressional plan, Reps. Gary Peters (D) and Sander Levin (D) would have been paired together. In addition, the new 9th District would be predominantly made up of Levin's existing district. Under the plan, most of Peter's old 9th District was divided between Representatives John Conyers (D), Thaddeus McCotter (R), and Mike Rogers (R). ^[8][9][10]

The plan drew criticism from Democrats such as Levin. However, House Speaker Jase Bolger's spokesman defended the plan, saying that the districts were necessary to balance competing redistricting goals. He said that maps ought to preserve community lines and have equal population while remaining compact and contiguous. In addition, Michigan's maps must follow the provisions of the Voting Rights Act.^[8] According to Politico, the plan was expected to strengthen freshman Republicans and win Republicans an additional Congressional seat.^[11]

Michigan GOP Congressional Redistricting Proposal
This map shows the proposed Michigan Congressional Districts. This map shows the Michigan Congressional Districts after the 2000 census.

June 2011: House approves redistricting proposal

On June 23, 2011, the Michigan House of Representatives approved the proposed Congressional redistricting map. The plan passed along party lines, 63-47.^[12]

June 2011: Senate approves redistricting proposal

On June 29, 2011, the Michigan State Senate voted 25-13 to send the Congressional map to Gov. Rick Snyder (R).^[13]

August 2011: Governor signs Congressional maps

On August 9, 2011, Governor Rick Snyder (R) signed the state's Congressional redistricting plan, House Bill 4780.

January 2012: Department of Justice pre-clears redistricting plans

Michigan's congressional and legislative redistricting maps were approved on January 24, 2012 by the U.S. Department of Justice. The decision did not directly affect the NAACP and Legislative Black Caucus lawsuit against the House of Representatives maps.^[14]

Legislative redistricting

May 2011: Democrats release Senate map

Democrats hosted a May 24, 2011, press conference to release their own proposed map for Michigan's 28 Senate seats.^[15]

Mark Brewer, chair of the state party, unveiled the map and officially submitted it to the Senate Redistricting Committee. He described the proposal as a politically fair division that gave each party 15 safe districts and drew eight competitive seats.^[16]

June 2011: Republicans propose legislative plan

Michigan Republicans released their proposed redistricting plan on June 17, 2011, detailing possible changes to the state's Senate, House, and Congressional districts. Both state legislative plans weakened the power of Detroit after a decade of population decline for the city. The plans effectively removed one Senate and two House members from Wayne County. In addition, no Senate district would be entirely contained within Detroit proper.^[17][18][19]

Michigan Republican legislative redistricting proposal
This map shows the proposed House districts. This map shows the proposed Senate districts.

June 2011: Legislature approves legislative plan

On June 23, 2011, the Michigan State Senate passed the proposed legislative plan 29-8. Several Democrats signed on to the plan after the Democratic proposal for Detroit's State Senate seats was integrated into the maps. The House plan for Detroit was unaffected. The maps then proceeded to the Michigan House of Representatives where they were approved 65-42 with amendments. Final legislative approval came on June 29 when the Senate concurred with the House amendments.^[20] The redistricting bill, Senate Bill 0498, can be found here.

Senate redistricting compromise
This maps shows the Detroit senate districts as proposed. This maps shows the Detroit senate districts as amended.

August 2011: Governor signs legislative maps

On August 9, 2011, Gov. Rick Snyder (R) signed the state's legislative redistricting plan, Senate Bill 498.

Legal issues

December 2011: Coalition challenges State House maps

The Michigan State Legislative Black Caucus, the NAACP, the United Auto Workers, and Latino Americans for Social and Economic Development joined a lawsuit to challenge Michigan's redrawn State House districts. In the suit filed on December 8, 2011, the groups argued that the new maps would result in a 50 percent reduction in the number of minority representatives by weakening minority districts and pairing incumbents. Much of the criticism was focused on the Detroit area. A spokesperson for Gov. Rick Snyder (R), named in the lawsuit, defended the plans calling them legal and fair.^[21]

On March 23, 2012, a three-judge panel dismissed the challenge.^[22]

May 2011: Warren City Council lawsuit

In May 2011, two candidates for an at-large seat in Warren challenged the validity of an initiative placed on the November ballot. The item, circulated as a petition, was officially an initiative to place the city's redistricting plan on the fall ballot. According to the plaintiffs, Eugene Sawyer and Dean Berry, it also improperly included language to reduce Warren's council from nine seats to seven and to make five of the seats into districts office, leaving a single pair of at-large positions.

Saying that people may not have realized they were signing in support of that plan, Sawyer and Berry, representing a group called Warren Citizens Guarding Government, asked for a restraining order to keep the initiative off the ballot. The current city council had already tabled the redistricting plan.^[23]

The two men argued that the proposed map of districts disproportionately favored the wealthier northern half of the city, and that the map reflected an effort by existing office holders to entrench their positions. The sitting mayor, Jim Fouts, countered that the initiative passed and was set for the fall election months earlier, questioning why anyone would let so much time pass before challenging the language of the petition.

The suit was filed on the eve of the deadline to announce a candidacy for any of the city's offices. Berry said the group had hoped the Warren Council would hire attorneys to seek a court order on who should draw the new districts. Both men also admitted they signed the petition they challenged, claiming they were tricked by the language. A representative of the Tea Party-affiliated group that circulated the measure said the effort was attempting to cut government costs and represented no effort to distribute power to certain groups.^[24]

June 2011: Oakland County lawsuit

Former Sen. Mike Bishop (R), County Commissioner David Potts (R), and residents Janice Daniels and Mary Kathryn Decuir filed a lawsuit on June 20, 2011, against the Oakland County Apportionment Commission. According to the plaintiffs, the commission deliberated for only 34 minutes before passing the proposal. In addition, the suit alleged that new districts were not sufficiently compact, divided communities of interest, reflected partisan motivations, and packed minorities into majority-minority districts.^[25]

On November 16, 2011, the Michigan Court of Appeals upheld the Oakland County Commission redistricting plan. The court found that the lines were legally permissible, meeting requirements for compactness, fair allocation of political power, and the protection of minority voting rights. At least one plaintiff, Potts, expressed an interest in appealing the decision.^[26]

After local Republicans lost their legal challenge to Oakland County's redistricting maps, state lawmakers passed a law stripping the bipartisan committee of its redistricting authority and giving the power to the Board of Commissioners. On January 4, 2012, Democrats sued to block the law, arguing that it violated the separation of powers. Republicans defended the law as a cost-saving measure for the county.^[27]

History

Deviation from Ideal Districts

2000 Population Deviation[28]
Office	Percentage
Congressional Districts	0.00%
State House Districts	9.92%
State Senate Districts	9.92%
Under federal law, districts may vary from an Ideal District by up to 10%, though the lowest number achievable is preferred. Ideal Districts are computed through simple division of the number of seats for any office into the population at the time of the Census.

Voter Registration by District

Voter registration and partisan representation by Congressional district, 2010[29]
Congressional district	Registered Voters (October 2010)	111th Congress	112th Congress
1 (Upper Peninsulsa)
2 (Lake Michigan Shore)
3 (Barry, Ionia Counties)
4 (Traverse City, Mount Pleasant)
5 (Southern Shore of Saginaw Bay)
6 (Benton Harbor, Kalamazoo)
7 (Battle Creek)
8 (Lansing)
9 (Oakland County)
10 (The Thumb)
11 (Wayne and Oakland Counties)
12 (Detroit's inner suburbs)
13 (Wayne County, East Detroit)
14 (Northwest Detroit, Downriver suburbs)
15 (Southwest Detroit, Dearborn Heights)
State Totals	7,276,237	8 D, 7 R	6 D, 9 R
*The partisan registration advantage was computed as the gap between the two major parties in registered voters.

See also

• State Legislative and Congressional Redistricting after the 2010 Census
• State-by-state redistricting procedures

External links

• Official House Redistricting Committee
• Michigan Citizens' Redistricting Competition
• Michigan House Republicans' official statement on redistricting
• Michigan House of Representatives, "Minutes of the Committee on Redistricting and Elections, Proposed, May 17, 2011"

Footnotes