After seven weeks of mapping, Michigan’s new redistricting commission is starting to vote on much-anticipated draft congressional and legislative plans.
The maps, while not final and subject to future revisions, will give early indications of the panel’s approach after voters empowered it — and not lawmakers — to draw lines to minimize partisan gerrymandering.
The commission is under a crunch because of an unprecedented four-month-plus delay in census data needed for the once-a-decade redistricting process.
Once multiple drafts of congressional and legislative maps are approved in coming days, the public will be able to give feedback at five hearings.