密歇根新闻广播 重新划分委员会

 

SOS Benson, Prop¹. 2 advocate weigh in on independent redistricting commission’s progress

The state is moving forward with preparations for redistricting following the passage of Proposal 2 in 2018. The ballot² initiative established the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission, which is tasked with redrawing Michigan’s congressional districts based on the 2020 census³. Thirteen people—none of whom are political officeholders—were randomly⁴ chosen for the commission, which will be overseen⁵ by Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s office.

“This is truly some well-intentioned individuals, all understanding and really committed to the goals of the voters who created the citizens commission to begin with, making sure it’s independent, citizen-led, transparent,” Benson told Stateside. “I’m very optimistic now, having connected with and identified these thirteen individuals, that they’re up to the task.”

The commissioners⁶ will be meeting with national and state experts on redistricting as they draw up their plans, which will be used starting in the November 2022 election cycle. The COVID-19 pandemic has required some changes to the actual process of redrawing district lines, though. While Benson says she isn’t too worried about remote meetings affecting the speed of the commission’s work, she is concerned about the timely release of data from the 2020 census. Census results will have a big influence how the new congressional districts are drawn⁷.

Data collection for the census was initially⁸ scheduled to end in July, but the deadline was extended to give households more time to respond amid the pandemic. That extension will, in turn, affect when the Citizens Redistricting Commission will receive the data.

“We will be getting the data later than we expected, but the commission will still have to submit their maps by November of next year,” Benson said. “They won’t have as much time to consider maps, look at the data, because you can’t really draw a district map until you know the number of people in the district.”

The Trump⁹ administration recently shortened the census data collection timeline by a month. Now, counting needs to be completed by September 30. Some communities are concerned about possible undercounts. In Detroit, for example, the response rate is still only 49.3% as of August 24.

Listen Listening...11:33 Stateside's conversation with Katie Fahey

Katie Fahey founded and led Voters Not Politicians, the group that successfully campaigned for the ballot initiative that changed redistricting to the citizen-led model in 2018. She’s since started a new nonprofit called The People, which brings the lessons her team learned from its campaign in Michigan to other states.

“Being a part of that process and also just seeing, I guess, the disdain¹⁰ from a lot of political insiders about a bunch of regular citizens trying to actually have a say and create a new process, it was really eye opening and left me wanting to take the lessons that we learned, the tools that we built, and be able to pay it forward,” Fahey said.

Fahey says that, as conversations regarding a need for systemic change continue on both national and local levels, Citizens Redistricting Commissions serve as an example of how to do things differently.

“A lot of people don’t feel heard. They don’t feel heard from their legislatures, their local government, maybe even their neighbors,” Fahey said. “This process is so different than any other one that we have at the state level of government that I think it offers an opportunity for communities to actually come together and continue to have some of these conversations.”

This post was written by Stateside production assistant Nell Ovitt.

1 prop   

vt.支撑；n.支柱，支撑物；支持者，靠山

参考例句：

• A worker put a prop against the wall of the tunnel to keep it from falling.一名工人用东西支撑住隧道壁好使它不会倒塌。
• The government does not intend to prop up declining industries.政府无意扶持不景气的企业。

2 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

3 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

4 randomly   

adv.随便地，未加计划地

参考例句：

• Within the hot gas chamber, molecules are moving randomly in all directions. 在灼热的气体燃烧室内，分子在各个方向上作无规运动。 来自辞典例句
• Transformed cells are loosely attached, rounded and randomly oriented. 转化细胞则不大贴壁、圆缩并呈杂乱分布。 来自辞典例句

5 overseen   

v.监督，监视( oversee的过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was overseen stealing the letters. 他被人撞见在偷信件。 来自辞典例句
• It will be overseen by ThomasLi, director of IBM China Research Laboratory. 该实验室由IBM中国研究院院长李实恭(ThomasLi)引导。 来自互联网

6 commissioners   

n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 )；长官；委员；政府部门的长官

参考例句：

• The Commissioners of Inland Revenue control British national taxes. 国家税收委员管理英国全国的税收。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The SEC has five commissioners who are appointed by the president. 证券交易委员会有５名委员，是由总统任命的。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

7 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

8 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

9 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

10 disdain   

n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑

参考例句：

• Some people disdain labour.有些人轻视劳动。
• A great man should disdain flatterers.伟大的人物应鄙视献媚者。