Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Steven Lett, a member of the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission, speaks during a League of Women Voters of the Copper Country (LWVCC) forum on the redistricting process Tuesday.

HOUGHTON — One of the members of Michigan’s new nonpartisan redistricting commission explained his role during a League of Women Voters of the Copper Country presentation on the redistricting process Tuesday.

Steven Lett of Interlochen is one of 13 members of the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission, which is tasked with redrawing lines for districts in the state House of Representatives, state Senate and U.S. House. Michigan voters approved a proposal in 2018 moving redistricting from the legislature to an independent commission.

“We are responsible to listen to the voters, and the citizens of Michigan in coming up with a redistricting plan that has no input from the Democrats, the Republicans or any other party,” Lett said.

Lett is one of five independents on the commission, which also includes four Democrats and four Republicans.

The commission has 16 public hearings scheduled through Michigan so far, more than the 10 required before it drafts a map. At this point, only one is scheduled in the U.P., which will take place from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. May 18 in Marquette. The meeting will be held both virtually and in person, and continue for as long as people wish to speak, said LWVCC member Valorie Troesch.

The districts must comply with federal law, including the Constitution and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which bars drawing districts to deny minority voters equal opportunity to participate in the political process. The first priority is to make sure the districts have as equal a population as possible, as required by the Constitution. From there, the commission tries to draw districts that are contiguous (none of the winding, salamander-like districts that gave gerrymandering its name).

The third-most important criteria is that the district has a diverse population and communities of interest. Finding out what those communities are locally is one goal of the upcoming meetings, Lett said. He gave the example of Detroit, where communities of interest include Black, Jewish and Arab-American populations.

“Those are the types of things we’re going to be looking for,” he said. “It can be economic, it can be cultural, it can be religious, it can be any number of things.”

The districts should also not disproportionately advantage any political party, and the lines should not favor or disfavor any elected official.

As much as possible, the districts should also consider county, city and township boundaries.

“It certainly occurred in my meetings that townships don’t want to be divided between districts,” Lett said.

They should also be reasonably compact. For instance, where there’s an island, it would go in the same district as its county.

LWVCC member Elizabeth Benyi pointed out several examples of gerrymandering in the current legislative-drawn lines, including the Copper Country’s state legislative district, the 110th, and the 14th U.S. Congressional District in southeast Michigan.

Federal and state lines are redrawn every 10 years after each census. Next year’s midterms, which will use data from the 2020 census, will be the first election using districts drawn by the commission.

The delay in receiving census data could complicate things. The 2018 proposal requires districts to be finalized by Nov. 1, after 45 days of public comment. That Sept. 17 deadline is nearly two weeks before the census data is expected to be available.

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson filed a petition last week with the Michigan Supreme Court to extend the commission’s deadline, which would move the final approval date to Jan. 25, 2022.

In the meantime, the commissioners will look at other information to prepare rough estimates. One is the American Community Survey, a U.S. Census program that surveys about 3.5 million residents per month. The Census Bureau will also provide some raw data; the Michigan Bureau of Elections will also give detailed information on populations.

“Our ultimate game plan is to get as close as we can before Sept. 30 and then to make any necessary adjustments based upon the census numbers that come up on Sept. 30, and to be able to put out our final map in a short period of time,” he said.

The impact of the census on the district lines is still unclear. Michigan is widely expected to lose one Congressional seat, dropping the number to 13. LWVCC member Bill Fink said that could result in the 1st District, which includes the Upper Peninsula and part of northern Michigan, adding three or four counties downstate.

Lett was also asked about the status of Bruce Adelson, a voting rights attorney the commission hired in an advisory capacity. Michigan Republicans had asked the commission to rehiring him based on Adelson’s campaign donations, which included a $125 donation to Benson’s campaign in 2018. Other campaign donations included $30 to Joe Biden in 2020, $100 to a Michigan district court judge candidate in 2004 and $200 to a Republican commissioner in Colorado’s Weld County.

“We did not count that as being a significant hindrance to hiring someone who has excellent credentials, who worked for both California and Arizona, who has worked for the department of justice in the voting rights area,” Lett said.

Lett encouraged people to submit their own version of their congressional district using map-drawing programs accessible on the internet, or by using a state map available through the Secretary of State’s office.

Troesch also said people who wish to identify communities of interest need to be proactive. Under the state constitution, those communities are meant to be the building blocks of legislative districts, she said. By keeping those communities together, they can have a stronger influence in electing a lawmaker who will be responsive, rather than seeing their influence diluted across several districts.

“The MICRC is not itself going to identify communities of interest,” she said. “So if people want to be heard, they need to show up, whether that is at a public hearing, or whether it’s submitting testimony in writing or online, so that part is still incumbent upon the communities of interest to self-identify.”

To provide comment, watch past meetings and other information, go to michigan.gov/micrc.