Michigan Government

The citizens panel drew maps that would all but eliminate majority-minority districts. Now, some members want a reset.

Residents push back against legislative maps that leave Michigan with one of 161 districts with more than 50 percent Black voters residents, who said the maps further disenfranchise voters of color.

Kristina Karamo, who is endorsed by former President Donald Trump, is speaking at ‘For God and Country: Patriot Double Down’ conference in Las Vegas. She says she doesn't support QAnon, though.

Michigan currently has 17 majority-Black districts. But in the 10 proposed maps released by the commission last week, only one district would have a voting age population of more than 50 percent African-American.

African Americans, Bangladeshis, and Latinos all told the state’s redistricting commission how to draw districts representative of their communities. Some are happy. Most are not.

Some $3.4 million from excess donations would have to be returned or donated if recall petitions against the governor fail, according to a court filing from fellow Democrats.

Gretchen Whitmer has her veto pen ready as Michigan’s Republican-led Legislature gives final approval to bills that would tighten voting and election laws. But the GOP is ready too: They’re already circulating petitions to go around her.

Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act still doesn’t apply to lawmakers or the governor. But a key legislator wants to reduce excessive fees, delays and redactions for public records.

Supporters call it a door-to-door canvass of suspect absentee ballots. Authorities say it verges on voter intimidation.

Trump-loving GOP activists launch a petition drive to force another review of Michigan’s 2020 results. Critics say it is a waste of time and money.

The petition’s ban on private donations for elections would also bar churches from providing free space for polling places and severely limit — if not outright prohibit — the use of volunteers in elections work.

Detroit gains districts, Republicans could keep control, but new maps also provide a path for far closer elections in the Michigan House.

Republicans have controlled the Michigan Senate for decades. Three new draft redistricting plans could allow Democrats to at least cut into that advantage.

Eight incumbents would be clustered in districts with at least another representative. The maps now go to the public for hearings before final approval.

More drafts are on the way, and the vote wasn’t without some dissent.

New emails and testimony shows former President Donald Trump and allies continued to spread false claims about Michigan election results even after Homeland Security and Justice officials debunked a report on Antrim County voting machines.

For the first time, redistricting is being done in public. Some progressives and conservatives say they’re unhappy with what they are seeing.

The Democratic governor says she’ll require contractors to pay workers union wages on state projects. Lawsuits likely as Republicans repealed a similar mandate in 2018.

Critics of the bill — part of a 39-bill election package pushed by Republicans — say it amounts to voter suppression by disproportionately impacting Black and low-income voters who tend to vote for Democrats.

Fights over absentee applications and rules foreshadow a bigger skirmish over wholesale election law changes sought by the GOP.