Approved, and now voted on: What we’ve learned after the first election under Michigan’s new redistricting process | Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
Type: Public event
Host: Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy, Ford School
Series: CLOSUP Lecture Series, Policy Talks @ the Ford School

Approved, and now voted on: What we’ve learned after the first election under Michigan’s new redistricting process

Speaker

Moon Duchin, Zach Gorchow, Nancy Wang, and Matt Grossmann

Date & time

Nov 30, 2022, 7:00-8:30 pm EST

Location

This is a Virtual Event.

Michigan's new approach to redistricting by an independent citizens commission has now come full circle, from signature gathering for the statewide ballot initiative in 2018, to strong statewide support in that fall's election, creation of the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission, their work drawing new districts with extraordinary input from Michigan citizens, and now the new districts being used for the first time in the 2022 elections.

Join us for a final webinar in our redistricting series, to look back at this consequential change in state policy and to review how this new approach played out this fall, including its impacts on races and election outcomes, and how it compares to experiences in other states. We'll hear from an expert panel covering these and related issues, including their reactions to audience questions.

Moderator and panelists

  • Moderator: 
    Matt Grossmann     is director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research and professor of Political Science and Public Policy at Michigan State University. He is also senior fellow at the Niskanen Center and a contributor at FiveThirtyEight. He is the author or coauthor of many books, including How Social Science Got Better, Asymmetric Politics, Red State Blues, The Not-So-Special Interests, Artists of the Possible, and Campaigns & Elections, as well as dozens of journal articles. He has published analysis in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Politico and hosts the Science of Politics podcast. He is also opening a bookstore, coffee shop, and wine bar in Lansing.
     
  • Presenters:
    Moon Duchin is a mathematician at Tufts University who runs the MGGG Redistricting Lab as part of the Tisch College of Civic Life.  Her research group has specialists in math, computation, law, geography, and public outreach, and they have developed the Districtr software package for drawing districts and communities of interest.  The Redistricting Lab will be working in eight states in 2021 to assist commissions, legislatures, and parallel public processes with public input collection and/or map evaluation.  Duchin's work on the geometry of redistricting has been recognized by the Guggenheim Foundation and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.  Recently, one area of research focus is the use of computing to enable districting that better comports with the aims of the Voting Rights Act.

    Zach Gorchow was named Gongwer's executive editor and publisher in 2020 and manages the company's Michigan operations, develops new services, plays a role in news coverage and leads reporting on the governor's office. He was Gongwer's editor from 2009-19. Mr. Gorchow also covered the Michigan House of Representatives for Gongwer from 1998-2005. In between his two Gongwer stints, he spent four years at the Detroit Free Press, covering Wayne County and the city of Detroit. Prior to first working at Gongwer, he reported for Observer Newspapers in suburban Wayne County. He is a Troy native and an international relations graduate from Michigan State University, where he worked on the school's student newspaper, The State News. In 2015, he made The Washington Post's list of the best state political reporters in the United States.

    Nancy Wang is the executive director and a founding member of Voters Not Politicians, the grassroots group that led the successful 2018 ballot initiative campaign to amend the Michigan constitution to put voters, not politicians, in charge of redistricting in Michigan. In the 2020 election cycle, VNP launched the VoteSafe campaign to protect public health and the integrity of our elections during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Hosts and sponsors

This virtual event is hosted by the Center for Local, State and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) at the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy, Voters Not Politicians (VNP), and Michigan State University’s Institute for Public Policy and Social Research (IPPSR), with support from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.

Co-sponsors: League of Women Voters of Michigan, University of Michigan Program in Practical Policy Engagement, Gongwer News Service Michigan, and Detroit Public Television.

More information

The viewing link will be emailed to registrants one day before the event.

For more information contact [email protected].