This November, Michiganders will vote to amend our constitution to create a fair, impartial, and transparent redistricting process. The proposed policy will establish an Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission comprised of ordinary voters. But who wrote the proposed policy, and how?

Michiganders across the state are ready to draw the line to stop the partisan manipulation by politicians and lobbyists when they draw our election maps behind closed doors. That’s why over 425,000 Michiganders signed Voters Not Politicians’ petition to put an Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission on the November 2018 ballot that would put voters - not politicians - in charge of drawing our district boundaries. Allowing politicians and their lobbyists the power to pick their voters is a conflict of interest and gives them an unfair advantage to keep themselves in power. But what is the basis for this argument – how do we know how bad it is – and how do we know that better is possible?

Voters Not Politicians is a grassroots group working to pass a constitutional amendment to take politicians out of the redistricting process and put the people in charge through an Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission. One of the founding principles of the Commission laid out in the policy is that the Commission is independent from partisan influence or manipulation. The Commission is balanced by nature with Michiganders from across the political spectrum who ultimately have to come to a widely-accepted conclusion. Commission members must also be selected in a process insulated from manipulation by partisan sources.

That’s why a large portion of our amendment to end gerrymandering in Michigan specifies exactly how the final 13 Commission members will be chosen. We’re here to break it down step by step to show you how we’ve maximized transparency and independence while minimizing any political parties’ ability to manipulate and corrupt the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission.

In January, three members of the California Independent Redistricting Commission traveled to Michigan to share their stories and testimonials from drawing California’s election maps in 2011. Democrat Jeanne Raya, Republican Peter Yao and Independent Connie Malloy joined Voters Not Politicians’ supporters at three town halls across the state of Michigan and hosted a private Q&A session for volunteers.

In President George Washington’s farewell address, he said, “The basis of our political system is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government.”

On President’s Day, those words ring more true than ever — and with your support, we will fix Michigan’s broken redistricting process through a state constitutional amendment.

Tell your valentine that "it's time we draw the line!" Politicians in Michigan draw voting maps that directly benefit themselves, instead of putting the interests of voters or communities of Michigan first. Allowing politicians to draw their own districts is a conflict of interest. When politicians have the power to draw voting maps, they have the power to hand-pick their voters. 

Share the love this Valentine's Day with some "gerrymandering" inspired Michigan valentines! 

Can eleven cents create a fair, transparent, and responsive government?

The issue of government spending can be politically divisive. But Voters Not Politicians isn’t weighing in on that debate. The beauty of our non-partisan plan to reform gerrymandering, or partisan redistricting, in Michigan is that all of us will benefit from a more transparent redistricting process.

How? It’s simple: how our elections are decided determines how every single dime of taxpayer money is spent. If elections are determined before the first vote is even cast, and politicians don’t have to earn our votes, then those politicians are free to serve special interests and their campaign donors instead of we, the people.

The Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission is all about transparency. A 2015 study ranked Michigan dead last of all states in America when it comes to transparency laws. When we can’t oversee what our politicians are doing, or how much it’s costing us, the state is vulnerable to corruption.

This isn’t speculation: Michigan scored an F on our Corruption Risk Report Card from the State Integrity Investigation. To protect our state’s integrity, we want a transparent redistricting process all the way down to the process of picking the commissioners and publicly disclosing the variables used by the computer software that commissioners will use to draw maps.

We want to put voters in charge of making sure our voices are heard and that our elected officials represent cohesive districts that hold them accountable to their constituents. The process will be facilitated by – not influenced by – the Secretary of State. Here’s how.   

In Michigan, when it comes to representative voter districts, the mitten does not fit. The guilty parties are politicians, lobbyists, special interest groups, and others who are in charge of keeping Michigan’s current process for drawing legislative district boundaries as is. They are guilty of manipulation for the sole purpose of maintaining political power with predetermined election outcomes.

The fairness of any idea to reform partisan voting maps comes down to how the maps themselves end up being drawn. A lot of federal rules and longstanding traditions go into any effort to draw Congressional maps, including the plan from Voters Not Politicians (VNP). The key difference: We want to take the manipulation done by politicians out of the process. VNP’s proposal returns the power over drawing voting maps to the voters, where it belongs.

What would maps look like if the voters approve VNP’s initiative at the ballot box in 2018? How will federal Congressional and state Senate and House maps look? Let’s get into the details.