Glenn Shaw, 71, of Van Buren Buren Township will fill a recent vacancy on the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission after he was selected in a random, computered draw Sept. 23.
Shaw will serve as one of five politically non-affiliated or independent members on the 13-member redistricting panel.
He takes the place of James “Ed” Decker, who submitted a letter of resignation to the state “due to changes in personal circumstances.” Decker said he believed he could not give the attention needed for the commission.
The commissioners will redraw Michigan’s U.S. House, state Senate and state House boundaries ahead of the 2022 election after state voters in 2018 approved a constitutional amendment that shifted redistricting duties form the political part in power to an independent commission.
An independent accounting firm, Rehmann LLC, drew Shaw’s name from the pool of 61 non-affiliated semifinalists. The remaining 106 semifinalists are Democrats or Republicans.
According to an analysis by The Detroit News, many of the 12 other residents selected to serve on the state’s new commission have voiced independent views and made no political contributions.
- Previous story Mutt Walk Winners
- Next story Belleville City Council sends proposed use agreement to attorney
1 Comment
Weather
This was one of the more ridiculous ballot initiatives in recent years. “Unaffiliated” voters are rarely unbiased, they simply aren’t open about who they vote for. Affiliated Republicans and Democrats are open about which side they support, and if you don’t like the redistricting which occurs, you simply vote the party who was in charge out of office. Now if you don’t like what the supposed “unaffiliated” decide, now you have no real recourse whatsoever. You’re simply out of luck and have to accept it. This was a change that reduced voters control, it didn’t increase it.