1
Sec. 1. (1) Within 60 days after the publication of the
latest
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
United States official decennial census
figures by the United States
Census Bureau, the county apportionment commission in each county
of this state shall apportion the county into not less than 5 nor more than 21 county
commissioner districts as
nearly of equal population as is practicable and within the limitations of
section 2.under this
act.
(2)
If a county is not in compliance with section 2 on the effective date of the
amendatory act that added this subsection, the county apportionment commission
of that county shall, within 30 days of the effective date of the amendatory
act that added this subsection, apportion the county in compliance with section
2. For subsequent apportionments in a county that is apportioned under this
subsection, the county apportionment commission of that county shall comply
with the provisions of subsection (1).
(2) As
used in this act, "major political party" means each of the 2
political parties receiving the greatest number of votes cast for the office of
secretary of state in the most recent preceding general election.
Sec. 2. The county apportionment commission
shall use the following population ranges when determining the number of
districts:
|
County Population
|
Number of Commissioners
|
|
Under 5,00150,000
|
Not more than 7fewer than 5 or
more than 7
|
|
5,001 50,000 to 10,000100,000
|
Not fewer than 7 or more than 109
|
|
10,001 100,001 to 50,000250,000
|
Not fewer than 9 or more than 1513
|
|
250,001 to 500,000
|
Not fewer than 11 or more than 15
|
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
|
|
|
|
Over 50,000500,001
|
Not fewer than 15 or more than 21
|
Sec. 3. (1) Except as otherwise provided
in this subsection, the county apportionment commission shall consist consists of
the county clerk, the county treasurer, the
prosecuting attorney, and the statutory county chairperson of each of
the 2 major political parties, receiving the greatest number
of votes cast for the office of secretary of state in the last preceding
general election. and 1 additional member from
each major political party chosen by the county board of commissioners from a
list of 3 individuals submitted by the statutory county chairperson of each
major political party. If a county does not have a statutory county chairperson of a major political
party, the 2 additional members shall be a party
representative from each of the 2 political parties receiving the greatest
number of votes cast for the office of secretary of state in the last preceding
general election and appointed by the chairperson of the state central
committee for each of the political parties. In a county with a population of
1,000,000 or more that has adopted an optional unified form of county
government under 1973 PA 139, MCL 45.551 to 45.573, with an elected county
executive, the county apportionment commission shall be the county board of
commissioners. The clerk shall convene the apportionment commission and they
shall adopt their rules of procedure. A majority of the members of the
apportionment commission shall be a quorum sufficient to conduct its business. chairperson of the major political party's state central
committee shall appoint a statutory county chairperson to perform the duties
required under this act. The county clerk shall convene the county apportionment
commission, and the commission shall adopt rules of
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
procedure. A majority of the members of
the commission is a quorum sufficient to conduct the commission's business. All action of the county apportionment commission shall must be by
majority vote of the commission.
(2) If the apportionment of a county into county commissioner
districts is not finalized within the 60-day time limit under section 1, a
panel of 3 judges who are selected as provided in this subsection shall
apportion the county into county commissioner districts. Five judges from the court
of appeals in this state must be randomly selected. The statutory county
chairperson of each of the 2 major political parties shall each strike 1 of the
5 selected judges, and the remaining 3 judges constitute the panel under this
subsection. When apportioning a county into county commissioner districts, the
panel of 3 judges must follow the guidelines under section 4.
(3) (2) The business which that the county apportionment
commission may perform shall be conducted at a public meeting held in
compliance with the open meetings act, 1976 PA 267, MCL 15.261 to 15.275. Public notice of the time, date, and place of the meeting
shall be given in the manner required by the open meetings act, 1976 PA 267,
MCL 15.261 to 15.275.Except for a meeting or part
of a meeting held in closed session, a meeting of the county apportionment
commission must be transcribed or video recorded with sound and picture and be
made available to the public.
(4) (3) A writing prepared, owned, used, in the possession of, or
retained by the county apportionment commission in the performance of an official function shall or the commission's members, staff, or consultants related to
the work of the commission must be made available to the public in
compliance with
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
the freedom of information act, 1976 PA 442, MCL 15.231 to 15.246.
(5) If the county apportionment commission is for a county
with a population greater than 250,000, the commission shall hold at least 3 public
hearings to inform the public about the apportionment process and standards
before preparing, considering, or adopting an apportionment plan. The hearings
must be held on 3 different dates at 3 different locations within the county.
(6) A county apportionment committee shall not adopt an
apportionment plan at the meeting in which the plan was proposed. Subject to
subsection (5), before a proposed apportionment plan may be adopted, the
proposed apportionment plan must be published for public review and available
to the public for at least 7 days after the plan was proposed.
Sec. 4. (1) In apportioning the
county into commissioner districts, the county apportionment commission shall be is governed by the
following guidelines in the stated order of importance so that higher ranked guidelines must be satisfied before
lower ranked guidelines may be considered:
(a) The
plan and all districts must follow all applicable federal laws, including, but
not limited to, the voting rights act of 1965, Public Law 89-110.
(b) (a) All districts shall must be single-member
districts and as nearly of
equal population as is practicable. contiguous by land. An island is considered contiguous to
the city or township of which the island is a part. If an island constitutes
its own city or township, the island is considered contiguous to the nearest
city or township. Areas that meet only at the points of adjoining corners are
not contiguous.
(c) A district's
population must not exceed a 5% deviation
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
from the target population, and the difference in
population between the most and least populous districts must not exceed 10% of
the target population. The latest official published figures of the United States
official census shall be used in this determination, except that in cases
requiring division of official census units to meet the population standard, an
actual population count may be used to make such division. Other governmental
census figures of total population may be used if taken subsequent to the last
decennial United States census and the United States census figures are not
adequate for the purposes of this act. The secretary of state
shall furnish to each county
apportionment commission the latest official published figures to the county apportionment
commissions forthwith upon this act taking effect, and within no later than 15 days
after publication of
subsequent by the
United States official
census figures.A contract may be entered into with the United States census
bureau to make any special census if the latest United States decennial census
figures are not adequate.Census Bureau. As used in this subsection, "target
population" means the sum of the individuals counted in the United States
Census for the county divided by the total number of districts in the county.
(b)
All districts shall be contiguous.
(c)
All districts shall be as compact and of as nearly square shape as is
practicable, depending on the geography of the county area involved.
(d)
No township or part thereof shall be combined with any city or part thereof for
a single district, unless such combination is needed to meet the population
standard.
(e)
Townships, villages and cities shall be divided only if
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
necessary to meet the population standard.
(f)
Precincts shall be divided only if necessary to meet the population standard.
(g) Residents
of state institutions who cannot by law register in the county as electors
shall be excluded from any consideration of representation.
(h)
Districts shall not be drawn to effect partisan political advantage.
(d) The
apportionment of a county into commissioner districts must not provide a
partisan advantage to any major political party. If the county apportionment
commission determines that it is not possible to apportion the county into
commissioner districts without providing a partisan advantage to any political
party, the county apportionment commission shall apportion the county into
commissioner districts in such a way as to provide the least degree possible of
partisan advantage without violating subdivision (a), (b), or (c).
(e) All districts
must not be drawn to favor an incumbent elected official or candidate.
(f) The
commission may consider the compactness of districts and the boundaries of
cities and townships in preparing districts.
(2) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (3),
partisan advantage must be determined in the following manner:
(a) The
difference between the actual number of minority party districts and the target
number of minority party districts must not exceed 1.
(b) The
proportional number of minority party districts must be determined by
multiplying the minority party vote share in the county by the number of
districts in the county and must be rounded
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
to the nearest whole number.
(c) If
at least 1 member of the county apportionment commission demonstrates that it
is possible to draw the proportional number of minority party districts while
complying with the higher ranked criteria, the target number of minority party
districts is equal to the proportional number of minority districts. If no
member demonstrates that it is possible to draw the proportional number of
minority party districts while complying with the higher ranked criteria, the
target number of minority party districts is the maximum number of demonstrably
possible minority party districts that comply with the higher ranked criteria.
(3) In a
county where the proportionality criterion results in an apportionment plan
that gives a major political party a 1- or 2-seat majority, partisan advantage
must be determined by the mean-median difference. The apportionment plan
resulting in a mean-median difference with an absolute value closest to zero is
the best map under this criterion.
(4) The
mean-median difference under subsection (3) must be calculated in the following
manner:
(a) Sum
the votes cast for each major political party's candidate for state board of
education within each district for the 2 most recent general elections in which
county commissioners were elected, excluding special elections for partial
terms.
(b) Find
the district-level vote share in each district by dividing the total votes cast
for candidates of 1 major political party in the district by the summed votes
for both major political parties in the district.
(c)
Calculate the mean of the district-level vote share by
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
summing the district-level vote shares for all districts in
the county and dividing by the number of districts in the county. The
district-level vote share must be calculated in the following manner:
(i) First, sort the district vote
shares from lowest to highest.
(ii) If the number of districts is odd,
the median is the vote share of the middle district.
(iii) If the number of districts is even,
the median is the average of the 2 middle district vote shares.
(d)
Subtract the mean from the median.
(5) As
used in this section:
(a)
"Minority party" means the major political party receiving the second
highest number of total votes cast for the party's candidates for state board
of education in the 2 most recent general elections in which county
commissioners were elected, excluding any special elections for partial terms.
(b)
"Minority party district" means a district in which total number of
votes cast for the minority party's candidates for state board of education in
the 2 most recent general elections in which county commissioners were elected,
excluding any special elections for partial terms, exceeds the total number of
votes cast for the other major political party's candidates in the same
elections.
Sec. 6. (1) Any
registered voter of the county within 30 days after the filing of the plan for his the registered voter's county
may petition the court of appeals to review such the plan to determine if the plan meets the requirements
of the laws of this state. this act. Any findings decisions of the court of appeals may be appealed to the
supreme court of the this
state. as provided
by
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
law.
(2) A reviewing court shall review de novo the following county
apportionment commission actions and decisions:
(a) The decisions as to how many districts a county has under
section 2.
(b) Compliance with section 3.
(c) The adopted plan's compliance with section 4.
(3) The county apportionment commission has the burden of
proof on the issues to be considered under subsection (2).
(4) Except for federal court decisions concerning questions
of federal law, a reviewing court shall not use or apply any standard of
review, test, or analysis taken from, based on, or derived from a judicial
decision made before the effective date of the amendatory act that added this
subsection.
Sec. 8. Once an apportionment plan has
been found constitutional and adopted according to the provisions of this act and all
appeals have been exhausted, or if no appeal is taken, when the time for appeal
has expired, that plan shall be is the official apportionment plan for the county until
the next United States official decennial
census figures by the United States Census Bureau are
available.
