DETROIT (WWJ) – A group of current and former Detroit lawmakers say they’re planning to file a lawsuit in the Michigan Supreme Court over the state’s recently passed legislative maps, which they argue disenfranchise Black voters and violate voting rights.
As 2021 drew to a close, the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission approved new districts for the Michigan House of Representatives and Senate, as well as two new congressional districts.
Those filing the pending lawsuit say the new maps result in fewer majority minority-controlled districts of color, essentially disenfranchising Black candidates and voters and as such, violate the Voting Rights Act.
The suit seeks the Michigan Supreme Court to stop the new redistricting maps from taking effect.
Filing attorney Nabih Ayad says voters in Detroit, one of the largest African-American cities in the country, are “getting a far, far, short end of the stick.”
The filing says the new maps eliminate five previously majority minority-controlled districts in the State Senate, while 12 House districts in Detroit that were previously majority minority-controlled have been reduced to two.
Sherry Gay-Dagnogo, a former state lawmaker and current member of the Detroit School Board, claims the MICRC did not use the right data and they knew it.
“We’re standing here today saying ‘not on our watch,’” she said Monday. “They did not use transparency. The biggest, the largest contingency of community of interest – Black people – had to step aside to everybody else but us. Why?”
Commissioners say Black voters can still elect their candidates of choice without comprising at least half of the electorate.
“We have to get into this fight and protect generations because representation matters,” said State Rep. Tyrone Carter of Detroit.
While the lawmakers are arguing the new redistricting maps are unfair to Black voters and other people of color, the maps were aimed to bring more partisan fairness to the Democratic Party after decades of maps drawn by Republicans, according to a story from the Detroit News.
The MICRC is comprised of four Republicans, four Democrats and five unaffiliated Michiganders. The commission will discuss new redistricting maps once a decade after it was approved back in 2018.
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