Michigan Congressional Redistricting and Its Challenges

Michigan Congressional Redistricting and Its Challenges

By John Conyers, Jr.

June 30, 2011

As it is expected for Michigan Governor Snyder to sign into law the redistricting maps for the House, Senate and Congressional Districts. It is also expected that, by law, there will be legal challenges to contest these maps, pursuant to the Voting Rights Act (VRA) law.

The first of the Democratic challenges to the Republican controlled redistricting process was the introduction of House Bill 4557 to hold at least 6 public hearings around the state on the process based on 2010 U.S. Census data. Other than being referred to the Committee on Redistricting and Elections, there has been no movement and more than likely, it will die in Committee as the maps will have been signed into law.

The next challenge of the Democrats will be in a court of law within the 30-day window after the maps are signed into law. The majority has had 10 years to well prepare its counter-arguments to legal challenges of congressional redistricting maps.

Challenge 1: Apol Standards: Michigan redistricting plans began in 2001when Republicans commenced their strategy to recapture and maintain power by drafting up 6 maps based upon the Apol standards to prepare for Democratic challenges.

The Apol standards, named for Bernie Apol, the retired state director of elections who was appointed Special Master to construct state standards, fostered criteria for the creation of state legislative districts pursuant to VRA contain roughly equal populations, featuring contiguous and compact boundaries, maintaining respect for municipal and county boundaries to the extent possible and assuring representation for minority groups.

In 2002, Michigan Supreme Court opined in LeRoux v. Secretary of State that lawmakers could “repeal, amend, or ignore” the standards “as it pleased” as the Apol criteria were irrelevant for congressional districts and said the Legislature was not bound to follow Apol guidelines as written into state law.

The main principle which manifested from the opinion, promulgating a clarification on how congressional districts are drawn, was called “Precise Mathematical Equity” where “as nearly as practicable one man’s vote in a congressional election is . . . worth as much as another’s.” Translated, empirical scientific methodology, utilizing quantified data, was, for the first time, integrated into the election process and law.

Using Geographic Information Science (GIS) where U.S. Census voting and registration data can be easily imported to create thermatic, heat-ramped, maps to visually show population shifts and demographic make up of specific areas in congressional districts.

Simply put, technology is colorblind in creating congressional redistricting maps, thus Apol standards should not have to apply.

Challenge 2: Division and Overpacking of Minority Communities: Consider the Democratic arguments that congressional redistricting should not deviate from the precision of county boundaries. To purport that congressional districts should follow 18^th century surveying techniques as opposed to sophisticated statistical methodology of today is not very progressive nor innovative, creating geographic anomalies of division and overpacking of minority communities.

For example, an African-American community links Detroit and Southfield, but county lines both divide the community and overpack minority Detroit residents into legislative districts that follow these county lines, appearing to limit minority citizens’ voting strength in the community Southfield, raising serious questions of possible violations of the Voting Rights Act on the part of Democrats. Thus, the Republican congressional redistricting maps deviate from the rigidity of Michigan’s existing county-city-township hierarchy intentionally designed to ameliorate the bias of divisive and overpacking of communities.

As Detroit, specifically the 14^th Congressional District, has significantly lost population, reflected in the 2010 U.S. Census data, Oakland County gained population as these constituents migrated to local regions of Farmington, Southfield, Oak Park, West Bloomfield. The new maps were generated to reflect the increase in African-American Voting Age Population by capturing this minority migration of 14^th Congressional Districts constituents, resulting in what some have called gerrymandering.

Again, technology removes biases when producing the geographic boundaries of congressional redistricting maps.

Challenge 3: Membership in a Language Minority Group: The VRA did not only establish protections for African Americans, it also embraced membership in a language minority group which includes "persons who are American Indian, Asian American, Alaskan Natives or of Spanish heritage.

Based upon federal rules, there will be substantive counter actions when the new maps of the congressional redistricting maps are challenged under the VRA. The U.S. Attorney General has adopted guidelines to assist covered jurisdictions in understanding their responsibilities under Sections 4(f)(4) and 203 regarding the aforementioned language minorities, but what will definitely be raised will be the language classifications for Asian Americans. A sample of these language groups are identified as: Arabic, Bengli, Cambodian, Chinese, Farsi, Hindu, Hmong, Japanese, Korean, Malaysian, the Philippine, Thai, Turkish, Urdu, and Vietnamese, where key concentrated populations of these Asian language communities are found scattered throughout the newly designed 14^th Congressional District.

The Michigan Congressional Redistricting Maps generated a 14^th Congressional Voting Age African American Population percentage total of 57.05%, a negative change of 3.95% when compared to the 2000 14^th Congressional District map, opening the door to violation under Section 5 violation of the VRA. Reporting of this “.05%”, at first glance, leaves one to suspect a possible statistical error rating, triggering the filing of Democratic minority lawsuits.

Naturally, majority counter-arguments will quash arguments of gerrymandering based upon race, ethnicity or language. The City of Hamtramck is a plethora of Asian language communities recognized under VRA, changing the percentage formulas for what is calculated as a violation under Section 5. It is speculated that Hamtramck was intentionally incorporated into the new 14^th Congressional District to politically embarrass congressional redistricting challengers as their legal arguments would be found to be divisive and exclude the Asian language communities by only advocating for the African American Voting Age Population.

Every person of the voting age population has a right to vote and to representation based upon the constitutional premise that “all” are created equal without distinction of race, ethnicity or language. I believe the congressional redistricting maps were created by the blind justice of the majority. It is time that we, as a society, progress to embrace innovation and technology to guarantee a productive future for our children.

Challenge 4: The only serious challenge I will have with the newly formatted 14^th Congressional District is having too much enjoyment getting to know the people and the landscape. I have always been proud to promote the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a very dear friend of mine, throughout the communities of the world, but now, I have a global constituency right here in Michigan, in my new District, to share this message of peace.

Michigan Redistricting Maps Approved By Department Of Justice (INFOGRAPHIC)

Michigan Redistricting Maps Approved By Department Of Justice (INFOGRAPHIC)

The U.S. Department of Justice has approved Michigan's Republican-designed redistricting plan, despite complaints from Democrats and a lawsuit that alleges some of the newly-drawn districts violate the Voting Rights Act.
Michigan must have any changes to districts and voting laws "pre-cleared" by the Justice Department because of the state's history of discrimination in elections.
But despite the DOJ's decision, a coalition of groups will move forward with its challenge to the new state House district maps.
In December, the Detroit branch of the NAACP, the Michigan Legislative Black Caucus, Latino Americans for Social and Economic Development (LASED) filed a lawsuit alleging Voting Rights Act violations in the redrawn state House districts. The plaintiffs say the new maps unfairly divide Detroit voters, combining sections of the city with surrounding suburbs.
The coalition charges Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Secretary of State Ruth Johnson with approving a discriminatory redistricting process. Members say the new districts will pit minority candidates in Detroit against each other.
A spokeswoman for the DOJ declined to comment further on the redistricting approval or the lawsuit.
Opponents of the new districts are especially concerned about Southwest Detroit's Latino population, which the map splits between the new 5th and 6th state House districts.
State Rep. Rashida Tlaib currently represents Southwest Detroit in Michigan's 12th district but will now run for reelection in the new 6th district. The new lines mean Tlaib's constituent base will drop from 45 percent Latino to 15 percent.
"It dilutes the Latino vote to the point where I'm seriously worried there will not be one state House seat that will be the voice for the growing Latino community in Michigan," she told HuffPost.
To compare the new redistricting map with the current districts, move the slider from right to left.
<br />
Tlaib said state Democrats presented a redistricting plan that placed nearly 50 percent of Latino residents in one district. She added she supports the lawsuit challenging the state House redistricting.
Tlaib has also been vocal about changes to the Detroit area's congressional districts.
"It looks like somebody was intoxicated when they put that together," she said. "It really does dilute and decrease the level of power that we have as voters to make sure that the right person is representing us."
Michigan lost one U.S. House seat due to a decline in population in the last census, and State republicans have drawn charges of gerrymandering Detroit area districts to make up for the loss. The new 14th district was named one of the "Top Five Ugliest Districts" in the nation in a Roll Call survey. It winds around Detroit to include half of Southwest Detroit, the riverfront, Grosse Pointe and many of the city's northern suburbs.
<br />
The new congressional districts spell trouble for metro Detroit's incumbent Democratic congressional representatives, who are already planning some district swapping.
Veteran Rep. John Conyers, a Democrat who currently represents Michigan's 14th district, will run in the new 13th district, which encompasses a good chunk of Detroit. Rather than take on Conyers in his old district, incumbent Rep. Gary Peters will challenge first-term incumbent Rep. Hansen Clarke for the 14th district seat.
Clarke and Peters face primary opposition from Southfield Mayor Brenda Lawrence and former state Rep. Mary Waters, who announced her bid for the seat on Tuesday.
Clarke, Peters and Conyers were unavailable for comment Wednesday.
Infographics by Jake Bialer, with demographic and district border data from Data Driven Detroit and the state of Michigan.
The U.S. Department of Justice has approved Michigan's Republican-designed redistricting plan, despite complaints from Democrats and a lawsuit that alleges some of the newly-drawn districts violate the Voting Rights Act.
Michigan must have any changes to districts and voting laws "pre-cleared" by the Justice Department because of the state's history of discrimination in elections.
But despite the DOJ's decision, a coalition of groups will move forward with its challenge to the new state House district maps.
In December, the Detroit branch of the NAACP, the Michigan Legislative Black Caucus, Latino Americans for Social and Economic Development (LASED) filed a lawsuit alleging Voting Rights Act violations in the redrawn state House districts. The plaintiffs say the new maps unfairly divide Detroit voters, combining sections of the city with surrounding suburbs.
The coalition charges Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Secretary of State Ruth Johnson with approving a discriminatory redistricting process. Members say the new districts will pit minority candidates in Detroit against each other.
A spokeswoman for the DOJ declined to comment further on the redistricting approval or the lawsuit.
Opponents of the new districts are especially concerned about Southwest Detroit's Latino population, which the map splits between the new 5th and 6th state House districts.
State Rep. Rashida Tlaib currently represents Southwest Detroit in Michigan's 12th district but will now run for reelection in the new 6th district. The new lines mean Tlaib's constituent base will drop from 45 percent Latino to 15 percent.
"It dilutes the Latino vote to the point where I'm seriously worried there will not be one state House seat that will be the voice for the growing Latino community in Michigan," she told HuffPost.javascript:void(0)


To compare the new redistricting map with the current districts, move the javascript:void(0)slider from right to left.

Tlaib said state Democrats presented a redistricting plan that placed nearly 50 percent of Latino residents in one district. She added she supports the lawsuit challenging the state House redistricting.
Tlaib has also been vocal about changes to the Detroit area's congressional districts.
"It looks like somebody was intoxicated when they put that together," she said. "It really does dilute and decrease the level of power that we have as voters to make sure that the right person is representing us."
Michigan lost one U.S. House seat due to a decline in population in the last census, and State republicans have drawn charges of gerrymandering Detroit area districts to make up for the loss. The new 14th district was named one of the "Top Five Ugliest Districts" in the nation in a Roll Call survey. It winds around Detroit to include half of Southwest Detroit, the riverfront, Grosse Pointe and many of the city's northern suburbs.
The new congressional districts spell trouble for metro Detroit's incumbent Democratic congressional representatives, who are already planning some district swapping.
Veteran Rep. John Conyers, a Democrat who currently represents Michigan's 14th district, will run in the new 13th district, which encompasses a good chunk of Detroit. Rather than take on Conyers in his old district, incumbent Rep. Gary Peters will challenge first-term incumbent Rep. Hansen Clarke for the 14th district seat.
Clarke and Peters face primary opposition from Southfield Mayor Brenda Lawrence and former state Rep. Mary Waters, who announced her bid for the seat on Tuesday.
Clarke, Peters and Conyers were unavailable for comment Wednesday.
Infographics by Jake Bialer, with demographic and district border data from Data Driven Detroit and the state of Michigan.

Michigan Private Redistricting Teleconference Featuring Detroit Land Bank Authority Legal Genius Michael Brady - 2-27-2020

Oh, lookie!

Michael Brady is on the redistricting team.

Michael has alot of experience in gerrymandering through fake ass private organizations.

Jocelyn Benson has alot of experience when it comes to making up her own rules, with advice and consent of fake ass private organizations, too.

I would go, but I am not credentialed media, which is a good thing because I would just publish their own words coming from their mouths, including the audience comments, and use it against them.

I bet they are going to produce a fancy video with cute memes and hashtags about all their redistricting efforts, but will forget the history, because they are bleachbitting legacy, which is why I do what I do.

MEDIA ADVISORY Note: This event is for credentialed media only Feb. 26, 2020 Contact: Mike Doyle DoyleM@Michigan.gov

Press teleconference with updates on Michigan's Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission State officials will announce Michigan has already processed more than 3,000 applications, far more than minimum required by constitution WHEN: Thursday, Feb. 27, 2 p.m. [Opening remarks 2-2:15 p.m.; Media Q&A to follow until or before 2:45 p.m. as necessary] WHO:             Michigan Assistant Secretary of State Heaster Wheeler Sally Marsh, director of special projects for the Michigan Department of State and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson Michael J. Brady, chief legal director for the Michigan Department of State and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson Jake Rollow, director of communications & external affairs for the Michigan Department of State and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson LOCATION: Via conference call – Please RSVP to Mike Doyle of the Michigan Department of State at DoyleM@Michigan.gov or 517-335-3264 to receive the conference call number. WHAT: Press teleconference to discuss applicant demographics and selection methodology for Michigan’s Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission. More than 3,000 applications – nearly half of the more than 6,000 received to date – for the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission have been processed. This total, as measured through Feb. 26, means Michigan has already received far more applications than the minimum required by the constitution. A profile of Michigan’s pool of applicants whose applications have already been processed will be available at RedistrictingMichigan.org. The data will be updated regularly as more applications are processed. In addition, the public comment period is open through March 27 for the weighted selection methodology proposed to identify the 200 semifinalists from whom the commission’s 13 members will ultimately be randomly selected – four affiliated with the Republican Party, four affiliated with the Democratic Party and five who do not affiliate with either major party. During the teleconference, state officials will discuss how the random selection process for the 200 semifinalist applicants will “mirror, as closely as possible, the geographic and demographic makeup of the state” as required by the Michigan Constitution. Officials will emphasize that Michigan voters can continue to apply through the June 1, 2020, deadline. Michigan voters amended the state constitution in 2018 to give the responsibility for drawing state and congressional electoral districts to a randomly selected, independent commission of citizens. The Michigan Department of State launched the application process for the commission in October 2019. It will conclude on June 1. The constitution designates the secretary of state as administrator of the application and selection process for the commission, as well as “secretary without a vote” providing administrative support to the commission once formed. More information on the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission is available at RedistrictingMichigan.org.

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Obama & Holder: The National Democratic Redistricting Committee

 The National Democratic Redistricting Committee

Former President Barack Obama highlights the damaging effects of partisan and racial gerrymandering on our democracy and calls on Americans to get engaged in the 2018 mid-term elections as it is a critical year for redistricting and restoring fairness back to elections. 

 The National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC) is the centralized hub for executing a comprehensive redistricting strategy that shifts the redistricting power, creating fair districts where Democrats can compete. To learn more about what you can do to fight for fair maps alongside the NDRC, visit www.democraticredistricting.com.

(Those example districts were the 13th & 14th Congressional Districts of Michigan.)

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Michigan Redistricting Was Part Of The Emergency Manager Plan

I had those maps.

I had the data.

I went to D.C.

I went to the MDP.

I went to the Detroit NAACP.

No one cared because selling chattel is the oldest form of survival.

If you lose you home to fraudulent property taxes and fake ass mortgages, under laws promulgated by those who benefit, people must move, hence, redistricting, or rather forced migration.

The Detroit Foreclosure Crisis was intentionally manufactured through the Emergency Manager Law, whereby the model was lifted from the Michigan Children's Institute Superintendent Law.

Children and land are fungible under chattel law.

This was planned and I was there.

GOP pressure shaped state's district maps, court records show

Lansing — Republican mapmakers who drew Michigan's current political districts were pressured to appease lawmakers and made changes to help gain legislative approval, according to documents and depositions in a federal lawsuit.

The documents show mapmakers in 2011 gave top party officials the partisan vote history breakdowns of new districts, shared proposed maps with an interest group linked to the DeVos family, entertained suggestions from at least one GOP donor and faced backlash from incumbents vexed at how their districts were redrawn.

“I think your map protects all nine incumbents and it looks good,” GOP redistricting guru Bob LaBrant, then a Michigan Chamber of Commerce official, told congressional mapmaker Jeff Timmer in a May 2011 email. It came as pressure from within and outside the Legislature began to rise.

But Republican then-U.S. Rep. Thad McCotter of Livonia and U.S. Rep. Justin Amash of West Michigan, in particular, were “concerned and at times opposed or threatening to be opposed and disrupting the legislative process” by lobbying lawmakers against the plan, Timmer, a GOP consultant for the Lansing-based Sterling Corp, said in a sworn deposition.

The transcripts were revealed by attorneys for congressional Republicans as part of a motion to dismiss the suit alleging partisan gerrymandering. They reference emails that shed light on a redistricting process that Michigan law allows to be controlled by whichever party holds power at the start of any given decade.

Republicans led the process in 2011 and hired mapmakers who used advanced software to draw the lines. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Democratic voters, alleges Republicans drew maps to benefit their candidates by "packing or cracking" Democrats into a smaller number of winnable districts

Brian Began, a Republican staffer who helped draw state House districts, emailed Timmer and state Senate mapmaker Terry Marquardt in June 2011 with a “map that we will likely use as it doesn’t primary two Dems in Wayne County so long as they vote our way.”

Began, in a sworn deposition, said he did not remember “the context” of his email. But records show three Wayne County Democrats — then-state Reps. Doug Geiss, Andrew Kandrevas and Paul Clemente — ended up voting for the Republican-drawn maps.

The trio cut a deal with Republicans after learning Detroit Democrats were attempting to negotiate their own agreement with the GOP that would have carved up the Wayne County suburbs, including his hometown of Taylor, Geiss told The Detroit News.

"A pox on all of their houses," Geiss said, still frustrated by the process seven years later. "This is not what democracy looks like. It left a bad taste in my mouth and does today. Democrats and Republicans should not be in control of that process."

Timmer, the congressional mapmaker who is a prominent figure in the new court documents, did not respond to an interview request.

Records first reported by Bridge Magazine show his Sterling Corp. firm was paid $170,000 to draw maps and help raise money for the Michigan Redistricting Resource Institute, a nonprofit that does not disclose its donors but spent about $1 million on GOP redistrict efforts in 2011.

Congressional pressure

McCotter and his chief of staff Jack Daly regularly shared suggestions with Timmer as he drew congressional maps, according to the documents. In a previously reported message, Daly celebrated a proposed map that would make it “easier to cram ALL of the Dem garbage in Wayne, Washtenaw, Oakland and Macomb counties into only four districts.”

McCotter, who resigned in 2012 after a petition signature fraud scandal kept him off the primary ballot, wanted to preserve the shape of his district as much as possible, Timmer said. The Livonia Republican was keenly interested in how the new maps would affect potential opponents.

"I know that Thad felt he could get elected anywhere in that district, but he was more concerned about who might run against him in a primary,” Timmer said in his deposition.

Then-state Sen. Gretchen Whitmer, an East Lansing Democrat now running for governor, blasted the GOP congressional map prior to a 2011 vote, alleging districts were drawn to protect McCotter and suggesting that "future generations of school kids might learn about them as examples of gerrymanders.”

Republican lawmakers defended the map, noting it would preserve two African-American majority districts while minimizing districts that break up counties or municipalities.

“What we have in front of us is a fair, a legal and a constitutional plan for our new congressional districts,” state Sen. Joe Hune, R-Hamburg Township, said before the vote.

Timmer repeatedly insisted that his top priority during the redistricting process was adhering to the “Apol standards,” the court-ordered redistricting rules codified by the Michigan Legislature in 1996.

But he acknowledged legislative leaders “would make alterations” to secure votes and said the rules were not strictly adhered to on legislative maps in at least two instances.

Clinton Township was split in an unusual way after requests by Republican lawmakers from Macomb County, he recalled. Two more townships than necessary were added to a Livingston County district on the state Senate map, he said.

'Rock solid' Republican

In one 2011 email, Timmer said Amash was threatening to "scuttle" the plan by lobbying state lawmakers against it. The congressman and former state lawmaker had "concerns about territory" in Kent County and that the map also drew Democratic former U.S. Rep. Mark Schauer into his district, Timmer explained in his deposition.

Schauer had traded terms with GOP U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg of Tipton but did not run again after his home in Battle Creek was drawn out of the 7th Congressional District and into Amash’s 3rd District.

Greg McNeilly, a GOP strategist who works for the DeVos family's Windquest Group, wrote Timmer in June of 2011 to say that “Amash is concerned with Calhoun.” McNeilly, who told The News he was not working directly for Amash or on his behalf, told Timmer that LaBrant had suggested they talk.

Timmer provided McNeilly with what he said was requested information detailing partisan vote totals in the proposed Amash district from 2006 to 2010. In one email, Timmer said the seat was “still rock solid.” Republican operative Jamie Roe said in another email that Amash's district was “still the second best seat in the state” for Republicans.

The deposition revealed that Roe, who was chief of staff to GOP then-U.S. Rep. Candice Miller, celebrated in an email a draft map he said looked like it was “giving the finger” to U.S. Rep. Sander Levin, a Royal Oak Democrat.

Roe was describing a section of Sterling Heights that was included in Miller’s new district. No one lived in the area but it had “good companies,” he said in an email.

Roe asked Timmer to keep a strip between Mound and Van Dyke in Sterling Heights in Miller’s district “so that we can continue to represent General Dynamics, the Chrysler plant, and the Ford Transmission plant.”

Roe has been a vocal critic of a November ballot proposal that would create an independent commission to draw maps and has argued “politics is really not part of” the current process. He said he has not been a fan of Levin, who is retiring.

But his 2011 comments do not prove any effort to gerrymander, Roe argued, noting the “middle finger” created in the map was home to zero voters but was an important part of Macomb County’s defense corridor that Miller “liked fighting for" in Congress.

“I do politics for a living,” he said, explaining why he described proposed districts in terms of partisan voting histories. “Of course I’m going to note the partisan nature, but that’s not a determination of how it was drawn.”

The emails show Republicans were "quibbling over how gerrymandered their district would be, not whether it would be gerrymandered," said Mark Brewer, an attorney in the federal lawsuit and former chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party.

Advocacy group pressure

In one email, Timmer asked another mapmaker to forward a proposed district map and partisan voting history to the Great Lakes Education Project, an advocacy group founded by now-U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, a former major GOP donor and state party chair.

Another email described in the deposition showed GOP donor Jon Cotton, president of Meridian Health Plan Inc., offering input on legislative maps in an email thread that included Michigan Republican Party Chairman Bobby Schostak.

“Can we still have the map drawers draw a favorable Republican district with the Pointes all together?” wrote Cotton, who lives in Grosse Pointe Farms.

The suggestion was not incorporated because it would have reduced the number of majority-minority districts, said Timmer, who told attorneys he was likely referring to Cotton when he referenced “GP$$ folks” in one email to Schostak.

Timmer also said GOP operative Stu Sandler delivered draft maps and other information to Schostak during the redistricting process.

LaBrant, the former legal counsel for the Michigan Chamber of Commerce who helped shape GOP redistricting efforts for more than two decades, told Timmer in a May 2011 email that “Dale at the RNC has drawn a 10-4 map” for Michigan. It apparently was designed to help the GOP win 10 of the state's 14 congressional seats.

But "your map protects all nine incumbents and it looks good,” said LaBrant, who separately told a legislative aide to then-Congressman Dave Camp that "we've spent a lot of time providing options to ensure we have a solid 9-5 delegation in 2012 and beyond."

Michigan Republicans retained nine U.S. House seats in 2012 and have enjoyed a 9-5 delegation majority since the state lost one seat that year due to population losses.

Emails show that when Timmer provided draft maps to various interested parties, he often included election data charts breaking down how many Republican votes were cast within proposed districts during past elections.

“Any GOPer should fare quite well here,” he said of the way McCotter’s district was drawn in one draft map. “All GOP seats improve except Congressional Districts 2 and 3,” he said in another email. 

Timmer denied a political motivation in his own map making. He testified that he provided vote history data assuming the type of questions Republican lawmakers or staff would ask “once we satisfied the Apol criteria.”

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Woodrow Wilson School of Public & International Affairs, Princeton University Wipes Out More Detroit Civil Rights Legacy By Publishing Michigan Privatization Voting Rights Gerrymandering Crap - Come Smell It

http://gerrymander.princeton.edu/michigan

The following report is by a group of students, and a very interesting group of individuals from Michigan.

This is not what happened in the 2010 redistricting of Michigan.

This is not what happened in the 2016 election.

Then, the report furthers some really weird outputs when it comes to previous years voting patterns, particularly the interpretation of voting rights, or rather the method in which they chose to rewrite civil rights history, in Detroit, again.

Obama & Holder: The National Democratic Redistricting Committee

That is when you recognize the stench of a Colored Revolution.

Then, there is this thing called frequencies, or rather how many times you can come big balling with a rolled out production of some top notch predictive modeling crap.

Michigan Ivory Tower Smarty Pants Profess Their Crap On Privatizing Gerrymandering By Failing To Address Election Fraud Or Detroit Land Bank Authority

Detroit Land Bank Authority: Contaminated Soil - Just Another Means To Gerrymandering

Michigan Congressional Redistricting and Its Challenges

They did not even properly set up their methodologies.

Who paid for this crap?

There was not one single mention of forced migration resulting from fraudulent property tax and mortgage fraud scam in Detroit.

The report focuses on the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and does not mention the name of the individual who has championed this his entire existence?

Can you smell the crap?

There was not one single mention of the federal investigation of the 13th Congressional District Office, which is public information in House Ethics, referred to the U.S. Office of Inspector General of the Department of Justice, who has been parceling out in referrals to the Districts.

Seriously?

Mark Brewer?

Come on.

You know this is some #perkinscoiesucks operation.

I formally enter this into the record as crap, fraud, propaganda, evidence into the *russian/israeli/ukranian* election interference because you know who pays #perkinscoiesucks.

I wonder if these senior graduate students got into Woodrow Wilson School of Public & International Affairs, Princeton University from the "Mummy & Daddy" college admissions scandal.

DOJ: Arrests Made in Nationwide College Admissions Scam: Alleged Exam Cheating & Athletic Recruitment Scheme

I smell fear.

Do you smell fear?

No?

Maybe because the malodorous stench of this crap is so overpowering.

Princeton Michigan Gerrymandering Report - A Commissioner’s Guide to Redistricting in Michigan by Beverly Tran on Scribd

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Michigan Ivory Tower Smarty Pants Profess Their Crap On Privatizing Gerrymandering By Failing To Address Election Fraud Or Detroit Land Bank Authority

Privatized Professoress Dunce,
Lisa Neidert

This is the part where I sit back and watch all the so-called academic experts come up with crap as to why Michigan will lose another seat in Congress, and yes, it will absolutely come from Detroit.

All the big fancy universities are going to have all their political-socio-economic pundits come crawling out the woodwork to publish their crappy reasons as to why 2020 Census is going to prove them right.

The reason why Michigan will lose another seat is Congress is because of stealin'.

Period.

The foreign privateers, sailed across the seas, to take over our government, our institutions of learning by stealin' the children, the land and the votes.

Yes, Michigan was made poor because by crappy policies coming out of these universities, like:

• MSU Child Welfare policies;
• U of M Child Welfare policies;
• Land bank studies at University of Michigan ;
• Michigan State University land bank studies;
• These so-called academic experts are more than likely sheep-dipped and can be bought for pennies on the dollar to spout more crap on why Michigan keeps losing Congressional seats without using the term "gerrymandering" which is what the Detroit Land Bank Authority did; and,
• #perkinscoiesucks

Michigan will lose a seat in Congress next census. Officials think it could come from Detroit

Lisa Neidert

(FOX 2) - Michigan's population has grown since 2010, but it won't be enough to salvage congressional representation.

For the third census in a row, Michigan is expected to lose a seat in the House of Representatives. University of Michigan sociology professor Lisa Neidert explains the growth of Michigan is relative to other states.

Lisa needs to be quiet.  She has not yet been subpoenaed.

“...lots of states are growing faster than Michigan,” Neidert said. “Just because you're not losing population doesn't mean you don't lose out.”

Think of it by imagining you're running a race. Michigan might be improving its time, but because other states are improving by more the state hasn't done enough - therefore it's losing its seats.

Congressional representation in the House is a zero-sum game and there must always be 435 house seats. Which means the states that gain and lose congressional seats depend on how their populations have changed over the decade. And Michigan's slight growth is tied to its lack of migration from other states.

“We don't do well with inter-state migration,” said Neidert. “Our migration growth is due to foreign born people coming into Michigan.”

Not one mention of fraud.  Not one mention of foreclosures.  When you foreclose on properties, people are forced to migrate.  When you fraudulently foreclose on properties, that is called #warcrimes because that is theft of the children's legacies.

Since 2010, Michigan's population has grown by 112,000. That increase has largely been buoyed by foreign-born migration, since the state and country are experiencing 30-year-low fertility rates. Even though that increase puts Michigan in a better position than states like West Virginia and Illinois, which are expected to lose population, the 1.1 percent increase still won't be enough.

The question that officials are now asking is, where will that seat be taken?

“The last time we lost a seat, it was going to get taken away from the youngest rep, the one with the least tenure,” said Neidert.

Not really, it was planned, including the rigging of the election.

That's what happened to Lynn Rivers, a Democrat from Michigan's 13th District who was elected in 1995. Her territory was then absorbed by long-time incumbent John Dingell in 2003. As the boundaries from Dingell's district changed, so did the number of his district, moving from 16th to 15th to the 12th, which is now held by Debbie Dingell, his wife.

A similar instance happened after the 2010 census when Hansen Clarke's 14th district was drawn into the 13th district, which was held by Democrat John Conyers at the time.

That was intentional. I know. I was there.

This time, Neidert suspects the seat will come from somewhere in southeast Michigan.

“My guess is the Detroit area will be the area that loses because the slowest growth is in Detroit, Flint, and Southfield districts,” wrote Neidert in an email.

Tag, Neidert, you are on blast because you know too much and it did not come from a textbook.  It will be Detroit due to transportation lines, international borders, and property. It was planned and I shared your crap, below.

This time however, the seat selected won't just be the newest member of Congress - the burden is on the 13 members of the independent redistricting commission, a new initiative put in place by the Voters Not Politician's campaign, which was approved by Michigan voters during the 2018 midterm.

Voters Not Politician's entire anti-gerrymandering operation is nothing but another privatization scheme of authority, just like the Detroit Land Bank Authority, that was part of the formation of the group.

The redistricting commission will use a seven-step rubric. The rules span from maintaining a single, unbroken shape to ensuring maps must not give disproportionate advantage to a political party. While the instructions weren't originally laid out for deciding how Michigan gains or loses a seat, the group's founder Katie Fahey said the same rules will be used following congressional house seat shifts.

You people just hate borders.

Learning from past mistakes, (a.k.a. "fraud") Michigan has already ramped up its census count duties more than a year before the census can be filled out. After Detroit residents returned a 64 percent response rate in 2010, a 6 percent drop from the 2000 census, members of the Michigan Nonprofit Association decided to start early.

The issues of the U.S. Census is in SCOTUS because there is a serious question to identities, like fake identities, you know, like how they ran the absentee ballot fraud schemes in the City of Detroit in the 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016 & 2018 elections, but, hey, what do I know?

BEVERLY TRAN: SCOTUS U.S. v. Department Of Commerce - Privatization Of Citizenship Question On Census For Violations Of Voting Rights Act & Administrative Procedures Act http://beverlytran.blogspot.com/2018/12/scotus-us-v-department-of-commerce.html#ixzz5i6wWRy5h
Stop Medicaid Fraud in Child Welfare 

Failing to account for some of the hard to count populations, like children and racial minorities, would negatively impact the state's revenue source. Because almost half of Michigan's budget comes from the federal government, the state is at risk of losing hundreds of millions of dollars.

The following is a facebook query I made to the new anti-gerrymandering authority.

We are not sure what you mean by that. Voters Not Politicians is a grassroots organization working to pass Proposal 2 to end gerrymandering in Michgian. You can learn more at yeson2.com

10/11/18, 2:27 PM

Beverly

I asked a very specific question. Is this a Quasi-governmental organization? Statutorily, from whence do the powers originate? Is this incorporated? Is this part of a governmental body, and if so, which one? Is this created under Type III transfers? Where does its authority hail?

No, Voters Not Politicians was started from a Facebook post by a then-27 year old woman who lives in Grand Rapids. It grew quickly into a 5,000 volunteer organization, that is a registered ballot question committee in Michigan.

Beverly

That is not what I asked. Please re-read.

Is the redistricting committee to be incorporated in the State of Michigan?

Yes or No.

10/11/18, 3:36 PM

The Redistricting Commission will be established by the Michigan State Constitution as an independent authority within the state government. That is, it will not be part of any other state office or be subordinate to the legislature or executive branch, but will be a separate entity with authority over redistricting.

Beverly

How is it to be established as an "independent authority"? Will it be done similar to the Detroit Land Bank Authority?

Will this separate entity be incorporated?

Is your organization doing anything to address that fact that the Michigan Board of Canvassers has yet to certify and record the 2018 Primary Election? Will this have an impact on this "authority" vote?

How can the 13th Congressional District cast votes if the Primary has not been certified?

The Commission will be a governmental body housed in the legislative branch. Its powers will derive from the state Constitution. (Proposal 2 will amend the state Constitution to establish the commission.) It does not need an enabling statute.

Our proposal does not address the Board of Canvassers task that you mentioned above.

If you would like, you can read the full amendment language at: https://www.votersnotpoliticians.com/language

Constitutional Amendment Initiative Language

Reforming Redistricting in Michigan

votersnotpoliticians.com

Beverly

But your success at the ballot addresses the fact that the Primary has yet to be certified and recorded. Thank you for the information, but the language fails to address the creation of the "governmental body". It is just like the Detroit Land Bank Authority. See you soon!

USCulturewar--theSDTandUSPresidElections19682016 by Beverly Tran on Scribd

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