EPIC/MRA, the Michigan Information & Research Service Inc. and the Michigan Chamber of Commerce revealed potential plans for new political boundaries Tuesday and Wednesday at the chamber in Lansing.
The three organizations all participated in two luncheon sessions titled “Mapping Michigan’s Future for the Next Decade.”
The luncheons previewed some possible plans for the new state House, state Senate and congressional districts. The Legislature will begin talking about the redistricting in January when new terms begin. The districts shown at the luncheons are not guaranteed to be the same or even similar to the actual districts.
“Every 10 years under the Michigan Constitution, and most states’ constitutions, the Legislature has the option to redraw the congressional lines,” said Ed Sarpolus, vice president of EPIC/MRA, a Lansing-based polling firm. “That’s to account for the population changes. Next month they will announce how many districts each state has, and Michigan should keep its 16. We’re using the laws established last year to look at what the districts might look like. The lines can be drawn different ways - this is just a guideline.”
The new districts come as a result of the completion of the census. To meet the needs of an area’s population, states have the option of changing their districts to adjust for any population changes.
While the estimated population changes used by the organizations are normally not too far off from the actual statistics, the group does plan on a certain amount of undercounting. In the previous census, experts predict thousands of people were not counted, which may have altered the districts if those people had turned in their census forms or human error did not occur.
In this year’s census, some predict approximately 69,000 Michigan citizens will not be counted.
Speakers at the presentation reiterated that though the proposed districts are possible, nothing will be certified until the new legislative session begins in January and debates begin.
The deadline for finalizing new districts is November 2001.
The proposed plans offered some alterations from the previous districts. Several large counties have reduced in population according to the estimates, but the criteria used to establish the new districts only altered current borders slightly.
“We’re using 2000 census estimates and enacting the established criteria,” said Bob LaBrant, senior vice president of Political Affairs and General Counsel at the Michigan Chamber of Commerce. “I think if the Legislature ignores the criteria, they do so at their peril. There’s a lot of ways to draw the plans. Our efforts will show that if you can’t draw a plan similar to ours, there may be a problem.”
