LANSING, Mich. — A new survey found that the majority of voters who are engaged in the political process believe the commission tasked with drawing new maps for Michigan has succeeded so far.
But the results also show divisions over communities of interest and transparency.
“Let me get down to the bottom line of these numbers now," said Richard Czuba, president of polling company Glengariff Group. "By a margin of 50 to 22, aware voters said the commission did succeed in giving citizens a greater role.”
The survey cost the commission $22,000, which comes on the heels of news that the commissioners gave themselves a 7 percent raise on Wednesday, upping their annual pay from $55,755 to nearly $60,000.
Even so, Czuba says the majority of those surveyed believe future redistricting should also be conducted by a commission, not the legislature.
"By a pretty overwhelming margin 65.5 percent said stick with the redistricting commission, 10 percent said we should return to the legislature.”
The phone survey, conducted in February, also found those surveyed would like to see better transparency and a significant number of Black respondents said they disapproved of the way commissioners divided some communities of interest. Lawsuits have been filed over the maps that split up the Detroit area.
“Caucasian voters rated the communities of interest at 53 percent approve and 14 percent disapprove. African American voters rated the commission 31 percent approve to 54 percent disapprove. A very sharp statistical difference,"Czuba said.
In the future, the results show, voters want to see even more ways to engage with the commission and greater transparency.
“I think this information is certainly going to be helpful to a future commission because I think this study in particular shows us areas that were effective areas that weren’t effective," said Rebecca Szetela chair of the redistricting commisison. "[It] will allow a future commission to target better getting that communication and getting that word out.”
The commission is facing a heavy budget shortfall thanks to multiple lawsuits over the new maps and they're expected to go in front of the legislature in the coming weeks to ask for more money.
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