A grassroots group that’s trying to reform Michigan’s political redistricting process has reached a milestone.
Every 10 years, the Michigan Legislature draws the state’s political districts, which are often shaped to aggregate the dominant party’s base voters. The group Voters Not Politicians is trying to end partisan gerrymandering by putting the question of an independent redistricting commission on the 2018 ballot.
Voters Not Politicians President Katie Fahey says they’ve now gathered 300,000 petition signatures, just under 16,000 short of the required minimum.
“We are tired of the manipulation; everything happening as a back door deal, and political elites really staying in power and not listening to us as the people of Michigan,” says Fahey.
The group has until February to submit its ballot petition to the state.
It’s planning a big push during the Lansing city election next Tuesday.