Awful map. How many ways do you plan to split Oakland County. This makes 9 Senate seats when we currently have 5. The seats are small and with communities that do not share an interest.

This map has 6 Voting Rights Act districts versus Promote The Vote’s map with 7

This map takes away voting rights of Black people in Detroit

This map is unfair and gives the majority of seats to the minority party

This map has Black voters outnumbered by White voters 3-1. This means that Black voters would have a much smaller chance of electing their candidates of choice.

This map is too favorable to Republicans

During the 10/22 Redistricting Commission meeting in Grand Rapids, several suggestions were made to improve the north Grand Rapids district 24 to much improve the Communities of Interest aspect. The suggestions were to remove the four Ottawa County townships included in the district that have no commonality with Kent County Grand Rapids and suburbs and add Cascade Township adjacent to Ada Township because of its close relationship with the core six cities. The map supplied showing these suggestions ( https://davesredistricting.org/join/43230428-2697-4c99-9a2c-e09ee77863d1) has been expanded show how to integrate this map with the Elm 199, Cherry 220, and Spruce 226 map configurations without changing the remainder of the state Senate districts outside this region. Map ( https://davesredistricting.org/join/ebc896af-6efa-41f6-ab96-7b52d94fb43a) details slight reconfigurations of the adjacent three out of six districts to integrate this configuration without disturbing the remainder of the state map. The four Ottawa County townships were moved from district 24 to district 33. They could not be incorporated into Ottawa County district 22 because Ottawa has too large a population to have a complete Senate district unless Holland City is removed. Thus, District 22 (Ottawa County) was not changed. Also, District 34 (Muskegon County) was not changed and the South side Grand Rapids district 23 remains as is. Cascade and Algoma townships that are closely tied to the six city Grand Rapids core in Kent County were added to district 24, District 20 was changed to incorporate more townships south of Kent County and District 3 was changed to include some parts of Ionia County that were previously in District 33. Changes to these districts maintain or improve their commonality of culture and characteristics. In summary, the improved Community of Interest configuration of district 24 on the north side of Grand Rapids was implemented with minimal changes to the surrounding districts and maintains the remainder of the state Senate map as is.

This map is unfair. It will give a majority of seats to the minority party. It takes away voting rights from Black people in Detroit. Promote the Vote's map produces 7 Voting Rights Districts; this one only 6.

This map is unfair and gives the majority of the seats to a minority party.

This map is unfair and gives the majority of seats to the minority party.

This map is unfair, giving the majority of seats to the minority party.

This map takes away voting rights of Black people in Detroit.

Please move the prison population to an overpopulated district to address prison gerrymandering.

This map takes away voting rights of the Black people in Detroit.

This map is unfair and gives the majority of seats to the minority party

This map is unfair. It akes away voting rights of Black people in Detroit. This map has 6 Voting Rights Act districts versus Promote The Vote’s map with 7

Plymouth should NOT be split into two or more districts and Livonia should NOT be split into three or more districts.

Superior Township (Washtenaw co) has nothing in common with the population of Plymouth (Wayne Co) and South Lyons (Oakland Co). School, county services, and taxes go to different counties to support those service. It would impossible for a representative to fairly represent this current map. Please remove add my section of Superior Township from district 11 and add us to district 27.

As an independent voter, this is a plan for Midland city and Midland county that I cannot support. Midland city and county should be in the same district. There are serious flood issues and other interest that are more aligned with the counties to the west and north.

This is not a politically equitable or competitive map. No Democrat will ever be able to win a senate seat being in this district, especially with communities like Howell and Cohoctah.

This map needs much work as it is splitting several long time communities of interest and has been rated as not particularly competitive or politically equitable. As a 35 year resident of Fenton Township in Genesee County, I don't understand how this map complies with the goals of keeping communities of interest together.

This map is somewhat better than the other maps, but still fails to meet the test of making sure the party that get the most votes gets the most seats. The commission could focus on unpacking the Democrats in small cities such as Ann Arbor in order to address this. In Livingston County's case, many people commute to Washtenaw County. The notion that we have nothing in common is false. People travel there all the time for entertainment (U of M athletics, Art Fair, culture), work, school (EMU and U of M), and health care. We have much in common and putting parts of the two counties together could meet partisan fairness.

This map is unfair and gives the majority of seats to the minority party.

The City of Burton should not be split for Senate Districts. Lapeer County should not be included in a district with Northern Genesee County. The City of Burton is a community of interest that has never been split for the State Senate districts.

This map ignores obvious and natural like communities to package dissimilar communities unnecessarily (e.g., Troy and Oakland Twnship). There are way too many non-competitive districts in this map, as well.

Do not split Berrien County - it is THE community of interest for those of us in Niles.

Another map that places Sterling Heights with Troy? Not much in the way of choice here. Dropping Sterling Heights from this map (and keeping it whole, as most of the comments request) and adding Clawson and/or Birmingham creates a district with like needs, diversity and attitudes towards the future. Please reconsider maps Elm, Cherry and Spruce where Troy and Sterling Heights are concerned. And thanks for all your hard work!

The partisan distribution in the accompanying data file makes no sense; each of 38 senate districts contain > 1.2 million voters: impossible. Clearly, Ann arbor needs to be unpacked. I would split it into east/west districts. Living on the east side, our interests often overlap with Ypsilanti: St Joe hospital, shopping on Carpenter, EMU events, Growing Hope, WCC and other overlapping interests (roads, intersections, police). The west of Ann Arbor is more aligned with Scio township, Barton Village, Dexter and Chelsea. For the 36 years I've lived here, my Democratic vote has been wasted in the Michigan Senate. The wasted vote in Ann Arbor is huge and I'm sure the 'Voters not Politicians' envisioned unpacking this city. That's what I voted for. Fix this.

Farmington and Farmington Hills combined makes a state House district. Farmington and Farmington Hills should be united in a district. We share a school district and library system and many community endeavors. Farmington Hills should not be split in two. Farmington Hills has a lot more in common with Farmington than Southfield. Farmington currently is drawn into Detroit (Wayne County).

Please move the prison population in Ionia to an overpopulated district to address prison gerrymandering.

The Detroit Hamtramck Coalition for Advancing Healthy Environments gave you a map clearly indicating we need a united voice for Hamtramck and East side of Detroit to address environmental justice concerns. District 8 needs to go all the way to Gratiot at the very least, from 6 mile all the way to 94

This maps violates your first rule. compact districts. You are stregthing this district 90 miles. Berrien should not be split. We are a community of interest with our neighbors in Cass and St. Joseph counties. Leave these together.

Out of the 199 thousand citizens now in Grand Rapids, I would think it would make more sense to keep the natural boundaries of Kent County! I see no reason to break up Kent County into the disproportional areas in this map! What is your thinking? I am sorely confused at this map! Why would you put such an uneven grouping of the suburbs of Kent County into the patches that you have? I am a resident of southern Kentwood, my address is Grand Rapids, yet I am not even mapped into either of them! This can be done better.

Due to multiple common interests (schools, library, community center) Farmington Hills and the City of Farmington should remain in one district. Splitting Farmington Hills itself makes no sense at all! This would split the City of Farmington Hills into 3 different Senate districts and dilute our voting strength as a community and recognized political unit.

Please keep Farmington~Farmington Hills together ...Many reasons ...long family and cultural histories between these two regions and many longterm residents have much pride and commitment to the well being collectively of our twin-cities ...the last gerrymander to separate the communities was never liked ... Farmington and Farmington Hills combined makes a pragmatically sensible district and should be together. We share a school district and library system and many community endeavors. Many of us grew up here over the past 30 yrs plus ..as did our kids ...and we would like to see that continued investment into a graceful and well earned retirement for our shared seniors ! Also please ensure Farmington Hills is not split in two in a future redraw. Thanks !

This map takes away voting rights of Black people in Detroit. This map is unfair.

This map is just plain unfair.

Please do not use this map. Cherry is the best of the Senate maps for #12. This map is not acceptable.

This map looks unfair and hurts the downriver community.

This map artificially cuts the city of Midland away from our county and watershed neighbors. It will be a massive effort to re-build the dams and lakes which directly flow into and affect the city of Midland. Please keep Midland whole and with our watershed partners who are our true community of interest. Tri City name is a legacy with no meaning today. Midland and Saginaw have completely different challenges and this grouping will dilute the representations efforts to work on completely different issues.

In 2020, in Michigan, Democratic voters had 53% of votes, it seems these maps should lean toward democrats having more representation than republicans. This map does not reflect that fact.

No partisan fairness on this map, please keep trying.

This, and the other two currently proposed Senate maps, lump Battle Creek and Calhoun County together with Barry County and areas to the NW with whom we share very little. As previously commented and testified to, our strongest COI lies with Kalamazoo and Albion along the I-94 Corridor. There are other maps available that honor this COI. Please consider those instead.

I encourage the Commission to keep the City of Grand Rapids whole within one State Senate district. The current map splits Grand Rapids into two districts. Grand Rapids is small enough to be drawn into one State Senate district and should not be split. Instead, the Commission should draw a State Senate district on the western border of the county that incorporates the Grandville and Walker area, instead of with Grand Rapids and Kentwood. The residents of these three municipalities share a community of interest as their school systems overlap with each other and residents work and shop in neighboring municipalities. I would suggest the Commission adopt a State Senate plan that includes the City of Grand Rapids, East Grand Rapids, and Kentwood.

Was the aim to break up Detroit? Not as bad as ELM, but still, back to the drawing board.

Once again, the Downriver communities of Melvindale, Ecorse, River Rouge, Allen Park and Taylor need to be aligned with the rest of Downriver, not Detroit.

Redistricting Commission: Berrien's state senate district has been the entire county of Berrien coupled with Cass and St. Joseph counties for at least 20 years, if not more. Splitting Berrien county's senate district is not useful. While in the past the north population centers and the southern population centers have had their differences, the county commission has largely mended those fences over the years. Splitting Berrien County now would re-ignite some of those issues. Population-wise, it is my understanding, this is not a needed adjustment and therefore would not recommend drastically changing the political dynamics for no apparent reason. Northern Berrien County does not identify with the counties to the north, but rather to the whole of Berrien County. It is my hope the commission will give considerably more thought to this decision despite the urgent timetable. Michael Sepic, Retired Berrien County Prosecutor

Redistricting Commission: Berrien's state senate district has been the entire county of Berrien coupled with Cass and St. Joseph counties for at least 20 years, if not more. Splitting Berrien county's senate district is not useful. While in the past the north population centers and the southern population centers have had their differences, the county commission has largely mended those fences over the years. Splitting Berrien County now would re-ignite some of those issues. Population-wise, it is my understanding, this is not a needed adjustment and therefore would not recommend drastically changing the political dynamics for no apparent reason. Northern Berrien County does not identify with the counties to the north, but rather to the whole of Berrien County. It is my hope the commission will give considerably more thought to this decision despite the urgent timetable. Michael Sepic, Retired Berrien County Prosecutor

Keep the communities of interest together. With this map, you will have urban communities hurting the family farm. Keep the rural communities of interest together and help keep the family farm alive.

During public comment in Jackson, the vast majority of people present discussed their COI. Invariably they asked that Jackson County NOT be paired with Ann Arbor. The two areas have populations that could not be more disparate. It seems obvious that the needs of the much more populous Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti would be attended to before those of Jackson. Jackson becomes the forgotten step-child. Please reconsider.

District 18 moves Commerce township into a more rural base. Our community of interest lies more to the south and east, at least from my neighborhood. We spend most of our social and commercial life in walled lake, wixom, and novi. I think this map is skewed to the rural north and west. Too favorable to Republicans.

This is not a fair map. It does not meet the requirements of "not favoring any one party over another." The R's still have the advantage - competitive districts was was WHOLE point of this years long initiative. Please look at Promote the Vote for inspiration. They have much fairer maps and were a bipartisan effort. Thank you for your hard work.

I am not in favor of a split of Berrien County in any form. Each of these proposed maps has a north/south split and I am curious as to how anyone thinks that this is a positive move. Berrien County is a cohesive county that represents urban, rural, multiple cultures and political affiliations. Please leave Berrien County whole.

This map doesn't come close to achieving partisan fairness and I don't support this version at all. Please continue working toward this goal. Both the AFL/CIO and Promote the Vote have submitted maps showing its possible to achieve thi

Detroit should not be divided up like this. We need a strongly represented Detroit in order for the whole metro area to succeed and this divides up Detroit's power too much.

These maps still tilt Republican, in a state that tends to lean Democratic in its voting. The party that gets more votes should have more seats. Please work to correct the partisan bias.

Please respect municipal and county boundaries. It makes no sense to divide up Detroit, and stretch it out into various communities. However, I'm glad to see the three neighborhoods on the east side are kept in the same district (unlike other maps).

All of the 38 district proposals fail to minimize county breaks as much as possible. There is no reason for a county to be split into 3 districts. This is a clear gerrymander. Also, you are diluting the African American representation. Please see my proposal: https://districtr.org/plan/48514

I agree with Sydney Schaaf that the EEV/Morningside/Cornerstone Village area being grouped together is great choice, but as a Grosse Pointer I would prefer that our neighboring community is joined with that, rather than grouped with Marine City/Algonac area. While I appreciate the idea of grouping lakefront communities together, I would prefer that they be represented by more state senators who can work to protect our lake, and I feel that our community is more closely related to District 6 than much of District 7.

District 31 needs to be redrawn in a way that recognizes more than just county boundaries for a map. County lines are not a priority in the redistricting amendment, but you wouldn't know it from looking at any Livingston County map. Thousands of Livingston County workers commute to the Ann Arbor area and rely on legislators who will vote to preserve the interest of infrastructure investment. There are shared economic interests and environmental interests with Washtenaw County as well due to the Huron River and the Chain of Lakes in Hamburg/Pinckney. These are communities of interest and should be considered when drawing these maps. Bringing more of Eastern Livingston county in with Ann Arbor would help further unpack Washtenaw County's Dem voters and give a wider representation than what's on this state senate map in 31, which highly favors Republicans.

Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti should not be in the same state Senate district. We have different communities of interest and should be represented differently. Please separate district 27 between Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti

The division of Detroit into long skinny districts is bizarre. It would make more sense to group neighborhoods in districts 8 and 17 near the river together, then work outward. As Lisa Kulawczyk-Pringle pointed out, it is incredible that there isn't at least one district with a majority of Black voters.

Your maps unfairly benefit Republicans. Your job isn’t done until you fix that.

Better choice for fairness is to divide the city into two parts, going north and south.

Better choice for fairness is to divide the city into two parts, going north and south.

Allendale township and Coopersville should belong to Ottawa county, not lump together with GR area.

Ottawa County should not be a part of Grand Rapids district.

Please include Cascade township in district #24. It makes no sense to put Cascade with the rural area to the east. It is where the airport locates and all of us in GR use that airport. In addition, Cascade and GR shares a school district.

I suggest you remove W Bloomfield from this district and add the remainder of Independence Township and the Clarkston area. This aligns much better with COIs and the numerous comments on these maps.

Don't split the city of Burton. It is a community of interest that should be kept together. And it should not be put together with the different communities of interest in Lapeer County. Burton should remain with Clio and Davison.

It does not make sense to separate out three townships out of a very cohesive Hillsdale County. Keep those three townships together with the rest of the county.

A few precincts of Detroit in with a district that runs into Macomb? That makes zero sense.

Remember when the commission claimed that they would respect communities of interest and consider the input of the public? Well, Eid certainly lied when it came to this senate configuration. How can he possibly say that Lansing and East Lansing are not a community of interest?? They share the same name for crying out loud. And he drew part of the city (a few precincts) in with East Lansing. All this is an effort to DEMOCRATIC GERRYMANDER and give democrats two solid democratic seats instead of respecting the region as a whole. Rural eaton has nothing to do with the city of lansing. Respect COIs , commission. You can do the right thing and fix Eid's gerrymander here.

This district is one of the only proposed districts which currently spans across three counties. The Commission has not properly considered the communities of interest in Novi. The 8 Mile Corridor between Oakland and Wayne Counties provides an easy natural boundary line to draw. Milford and Commerce should be added to District 11, and Washtenaw County should be completely removed. These areas do not have shared resources, services, or community interests. Please keep working on this district.

I don't think there is any excuse for breaking a county down into 3 districts.

Troy and Clawson are aligned and connected communities. Keep them together Oakland Twp and Troy/Rochester are not so aligned, so consider moving Oakland Twp out of district 16 and Clawson into district 16. You may need to move a little bit more of Sterling Heights into that district, so as to compensate for the population.

Milford and Commerce Township are more aligned with Novi and South Lyon, and less so with Farmington Hills, and even less so with Washtenaw County. So I would group Novi and South Lyon with Milford and at least some of Commerce Township, and not with Farmington Hills and Washtenaw County.

Please consider moving Milford and Commerce Township from district 18 into district 11. To compensate, you should move the part of Farmington Hills that's in district 11 to district 18. (Ideally all of Farmington Hills should be kept together, but I understand that may not be possible).

District 11 needs more work. Novi, South Lyon and Milford should be together in District 11. These cities are all connected via I96 - shopping, restaurants, entertainment, etc. Washtenaw county should not be included in District 11. Please keep working on this.

Please put Farmington and Farmington Hills together and don't split up Farmington Hills. We have a joint school board and library system, and many community activities. Farmington sits in the middle of Farmington Hills.

Please keep Berrien, Cass, and St. Joseph together. Understanding the uniqueness of Michiana is important and vital to all communities across southwest Michigan. For example you have split school districts in this proposal. Stevensville and Baroda are just one example and I think we owe it to our children to make sure they have strong representation in Lansing and splitting them up will hurt their voice. Also, Michiana (Berrien Cass and St. Joseph Counties) are all in the Indiana media market. We do not get Kzoo or GR media markets as we are part of Southwest Michigan not West Michigan.

I urge the commission to re-evaluate the decision to separate northern Berrien county from the rest of Michiana. It’s important to keep all three counties together. Here’s why: SW Michigan, otherwise known as Michiana, has its own electric grid. Indiana Michigan (Michiana) Hydro Power is generated in Berrien & St. Joseph Counties. Berrien, Cass & St. Joseph Counties are served by PJM, a regional transmission organization (RTO) that coordinates the movement of wholesale electricity. The rest of the state is served by MISO. By breaking Berrien into two Senate districts, it could potentially disrupt energy supplies in the region. Further, the police departments of the three counties all share resources in maintaining the public safety of SW Michigan. Continuing, there are longstanding academic and athletic alliances that bind Berrien, Cass, and St. Joseph counties together—from playing football together, to participating in robotics tournaments. The three aforementioned counties all face similar issues: they reside in the same television market, they work with officials from Indiana in resolving interstate disputes, and much more. By breaking northern Berrien into a different district, we run the risk of disenfranchising those residents of our great state. By moving them into a different Senate district, they will be joined by communities that do not understand their issues, and what is necessary for the public safety, commercial and educational needs of this part of SW Michigan. My recommendation is to pair all of Berrien County with that of Cass, and St. Joseph counties. This is a logical move that will ensure the stability of SW Michigan. Thank you!

District 11 (Novi, South Lyon, etc.) should include Milford and more of Commerce Township, but less of Farmington Hills and none of Washtenaw County. District 18 (West Bloomfield, Waterford, etc.) should include most of the part of Farmington Hills that you have with District 11, and it should drop Milford and most of Commerce Township into District 11. District 16 (Rochester Hills, Troy, western Sterling Heights) should keep Troy whole, include all of Clawson, include all of Sterling Heights west of Van Dyke, and should NOT include Oakland Township at all. Keeping Rochester Hills and Troy together is good.

I loathe every single state senate map. Why is the commission obsessed with including Southern Kent County with the lakeshore? We share almost nothing in common. I'd rather be included in district 3 than district 20.

This extension of District 5 into Chesterfield Township was done in good faith (trying to make both 5 and 7 swing districts), but it was poorly executed and doesn't represent a COI or any other criteria the Commission is supposed to use. The version of districts 5 and 7 on the Cherry map are much better.

This is a completely unacceptable map from a constitutionally required partisan fairness perspective and should be rejected outright. Michigan can do much better. Fair Maps Favor People Over Parties The underlying principle enshrined in Michigan's Constitution by Proposal 2, which established Michigan’s Independent Citizens’ Redistricting Commission, is that fair maps should prioritize the voice of the people, not political parties. The people of Michigan deserve representation that reflects their beliefs, their values, and ultimately, their votes. Therefore, our state’s newest district maps should give Michigan voters meaningful control over who represents them in Lansing, all while balancing the need for BIPOC representation, equally populated districts, and district compactness. This map has an efficiency gap of greater than 4%, a mean-median gap of 3.76%, and disproportionally favors Republicans by almost 3%.

Please move Madison Heights and Hazel Park into proposed district 13 with Royal Oak, Clawson and Birmingham.

This map is getting better, but if "communities of interest" are of chief importance, then there is still work to be done here. Novi has far more in common than the rural communities of Superior Twp and Washtenaw County. I also think it's unnecessary and overly complex to spread this district out across three very disparate counties - wayne, oakland and washtenaw. that seems excessive, please consider a more easterly extension of the map to include more "second ring" suburbs closely connected by school districts, infrastructre development zones and city and county boundry lines.

I see the benefit of cooperation along Woodward between county lines in District 18. However, this map clearly removes majority minority districts, divides communities of interest, and there are no majority Black districts in the entire state despite having several cities that are majority black. If 260,000 people lived in a single tower that took up a 1/4 mile of land, you wouldn't divide the tower up just to expand the district footprint would you? This map makes me think you would.

Splitting 3 townships off Hillsdale County and strapping them to the urban center of Jackson disrupts our community. Hillsdale County is intact in all other districting, but gerrymandered in this scheme, creating a rift of interests in our county. This is only one small portion of all the micro-finessing of lines in SW Michigan in an attempt to preserv a 2-seat majority for one party in our state, violating the charter of this commission.

Mount Clemsn and Clinton Twp should be in District 5. Mount Clemns is not a lakeshore community and has little in common with the rest of your new district.

Nothing is gained in partisan fairness or community of interests in dividing up Detroit, Southfield, Oak Park, Warren and the large municipal areas. Detroit needs to have representation not a chopped up mess. AflCio can do fair mapping as can other outside organizations, please look at their maps.

This district should be redrawn. The City of Burton is a community of interest that has never been split for the State Senate districts. Burton, Davison, and Clio do not share a community of interest with Lapeer.

Augusta twp needs to be with districts within Washtenaw. Lumping one township from Washtenaw with Lenawee and Monroe is not a good idea.

Please don’t lump Rochester/Hills with macomb county…we have nothing other than a county border in common with them, Oakland county trending blue, and would like to keep that momentum

This Greater Lansing configuration breaks COIs and dilutes Republican voters. Biden only received 55% of the total vote among the 4 capital region counties, but these lines put everyone within those counties in senate districts he carried by wide margins. Please consider adjusting these two districts to better preserve the Lansing/East Lansing COI, reflect our region's political diversity, and creates at least one district that's on an even playing field for both parties.

This maps packing Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti together goes against both communities of interest, partisan fairness, and decreases the opportunity for voters of color in Ypsilanti to have a voice in choosing their state senator. It shouldn't be adopted.

This map is completely unfair and not even slightly balanced between parties.

Thank you for your careful job at Senate redistricting. However, I believe East Grand Rapids belongs in the north Kent district (24), as does Cascade. Cascade has much in common with Ada, and is where the GR metro area airport is located; it should be with the other GR metro suburbs. Including EGR and Cascade in 24 would allow/require the exclusion of the 4 rural townships in W. Ottawa county, which have no real relationship with Kent County or the urban and suburban areas of northern Kent County. Please keep Kent County together. Thank you.

This is another map that seems to intentionally cram as many Democrats into one district as possible. This, in my view, is not a fair map.

Again, keep Warren and Sterling Heights together. This bizarre sectioning of counties provides no voice for the people in this drawn district.

Redistricting Commission: Berrien's state senate district has been the entire county of Berrien coupled with Cass and St. Joseph counties for at least 20 years, if not more. Splitting Berrien county's senate district is not useful. While in the past the north population centers and the southern population centers have had their differences, the county commission has largely mended those fences over the years. Splitting Berrien County now would re-ignite some of those issues. Population-wise, it is my understanding, this is not a needed adjustment and therefore would not recommend drastically changing the political dynamics for no apparent reason. Northern Berrien County does not identify with the counties to the north, but rather to the whole of Berrien County. It is my hope the commission will give considerably more thought to this decision despite the urgent timetable. Michael Sepic, Retired Berrien County Prosecutor

For shame. As a commission to benefit the people of Michigan where is your sense of fairness in Detroit to achieve appropriate representation?

Warren and Sterling Heights should be in the same Senate District. They are strongly tied together. I worked with members of the Arabic and Chaldean communities here as a Social Worker. This is one of the largest, and most poorly represented groups in the state. The population centers are through Warren and Sterling Heights, and these groups need to be able to have their interests represented.

It would be much better to include Mount Clemens and Clinton Township with Roseville, Frasier, and St. Claire Shores. The way it's drawn now splits up economic sections. The map should not be partisan, but it is the way it's drawn now.

Don't split Berrien County - no reason too. Keep it with Cass and Van Buren Counties. These three counties border Indiana and have tourists, vacationers and second home owners from Chicago area. This area is MICHIANA!!

The Commission seems to have understood the importance of unpacking Ann Arbor and separating it from Ypsilanti in the latest HD maps, but still seems intent on keeping them together in the SD maps. Please look at this issue again. It is important not to waste people's votes by packing a district so heavily Democratic-leaning. Republicans who live there will never have the hope of electing someone who represents them in that district, and too many Democratic votes in one district means many will be superfluous.

Macomb County is one of the easiest counties to map for the senate. We know that you are trying hard, but you are over thinking this. Sterling Heights and Warren are sister cities that deserve to be represented by a single Senator. The Mound/Van Dyke Corridor is an important economic hub for both cities. They share similar demographics, economies, and school districts. Similarly, Eastpointe, Fraser, Roseville, Saint Clair Shores, Clinton Township, and Mt. Clemens should be in one senate district. They have a ton in common. They are all diverse communities who have shared representation in the past. These communities share the Groesbeck/Gratiot corridor that dictates their economic development. These communities also share many school districts. The northern communities are similarly easy to draw together as they are similar economically and demographically. I love Detroit. I lived in the city for 4 years, I worked in the city for many years as well. My heart is with Detroit and the suburbs need to do more to help Detroit succeed. These maps will not assist with that goal. Instead, these maps will make the divide between these communities worse. In this case, doing what is right for Detroit and what is right for Macomb is the same thing. Give Macomb two senators (as outlined above) that border Detroit. Give Detroit its own senator. Those senators will work closely together for the betterment of Detroit and Macomb.

This is better than prior maps but still gives an unfair advantage to republicans. Democratic votes are consistently approx. 52% in this state and yet this map does not reflect even 50/50 chance for either party to win the majority of seats as required by the constitution. Ann Arbor remains packed with democratic votes and would be an easy fix. I appreciate your hard work and realize fully how hard it is to present relatively fair maps. Please consider looking at the AFL/CIO Fair Maps for inspiration. They were developed by groups of R's, D' and Indpendent's and do a good job of achieving a very hard task. Please also extend public comment. 1 minute is not long enough for something that will change our lives for 10 years. Thanks for your commitment to restoring faith in the way our democratic system can work when not tinkered with by politicians.

A redistricting plan that confers upon and preserves majority power for a minority party is anti-democratic.

Hillsdale and Eastern Calhoun were not requested to be in this district and really don't belong in it. This district should either be Western Washtenaw and Jackson as public comments described or a different configuration altogether. If a different configuration is preferred, I like 06326. The double-digit population growth in Chelsea, Dexter, Saline, and Pittsfield Twp are related to proximity to Ann Arbor and there's room for that trend to continue. Let's have a Greater Ann Arbor senator and give Ypsilanti a chance to elect someone from their own community to represent their issues and interests.

Hasting and Barry County has nothing in common with the City of Battle Creek and should not share are senator. Consider being Battle Creek and Kalamazoo together and Keeping Barry county combine with other areas of similar population. The communities of interest need to be taken into consideration here over trying to balance the partisan. This district is partisan balance as the will of Battle Creek will always outbalance the will of rural areas lumped in with it.

W. Bloomfield has no common socioeconomic demographics Highland or Milford, etc. and would not be fairly represented in the same district. Moreover, this entire map does not ensure partisan fairness and provides advantages to Republicans.

This is an inadequate State Senate map. It's worse than what we had before. Again, district lines should NOT be drawn vertically to mix the Counties of Macomb and Oakland with Wayne County. And I agree with E.Boyer, J.Fisher, G.Chapp, J.Rutherford and C.Finn's comments. Sterling Heights and Warren 2 of the largest cities in Michigan and have so much in common that together they'd make a perfect COI Senate District. We share school districts, workplaces, shopping areas, restaurants, places of worship, etc. Please make all of Sterling Heights and all of Warren into one Senate district and draw the rest of SE Michigan State Senate districts horizontally. Let's maintain partisan fairness, zero political bias. Close enough is not nearly good enough. End the gerrymandering that I still see in this map. Thank you for all your efforts.

Doesn’t appear to have fair minority districts in Detroit. Better and less partisan maps are available!

Districts 8,9,14,16 and 18 are not competitive. On of the goals for redistricting is not to allow an advantage to either party. We need competitive Senate districts to encourage more responsive government for all.

This map has a distinct partisan bent and I have lost confidence in the re-districting committee after they rushed through an unscheduled, unannounced vote when all of the members were not in attendance with a only the bare minimum quorum present for no apparent reason other than to be done with it. If we cannot have confidence in the committee, this negates the whole purpose of this entire process.

Putting Farmington and Farmington Hills into separate districts is the wrong thing to do. Those 2 cities should remain together.

This map has 0 Black Majority Districts in Detroit vs 2 today! I worked hard to get Proposition 2 passed, so I am very disappointed to note that this map doesn't achieve either partisan fairness nor maintaining even our current Minority Majority Districts" Basically, this map doesn't get it done! Partisan Fairness means no disproportionate advantage for either party! There are plenty of examples of good maps at Michigan-mapping.org. I strongly encourage the commission to adopt this plan, https://www.michigan-mapping.org/submission/o6159 by Promote The Vote gives 7 voting rights districts vs only 5 today

This map doesn't get it done! Partisan Fairness means no disproportionate advantage for either party

I appreciate the work so far, but this map: * by definition does not achieve partisan fairness, as it gives disproportionate advantage to Republicans. There can be and are maps that achieve partisan fairness. * has zero black majority districts in Detroit - How does that make sense?

This map doesn't achieve either partisan fairness nor maintaining even our current Minority Majority Districts

This map has 0 Black Majority Districts in Detroit vs 2 today. There are plenty of examples of good maps at Michigan-mapping.org. This plan, https://www.michigan-mapping.org/submission/o6159 by Promote The Vote gives 7 voting rights districts vs only 5 today. This map does not reflect that Democrats are a majority in the state of Michigan. If it were in line with the 2020 voting, there would be 18 Republican seats and 20 Democratic seats. I would prefer that the maps are competitive for both parties so that we don't end up with extreme candidates winning primaries and coasting to victory because their district is so gerrymandered.

The state has voted democratic at the presidential level, as well as for the lead offices in Lansing. It is simply not "representative" to make the Senate a Republican body deliberately? An even split might be more acceptable; but not deliberately skewing the results ahead of the vote. That is not the intent of the petition and the statewide vote. Surely you must recognize that!!!!

West Bloomfield does not belong with Independence, Highland, White Lake, or Milford, it belongs with other diverse, suburban communities.

District 5 shouldn't go into Wayne County. I believe Clinton Twp. and Mt. Clemens and New Baltimore should be in the same Senate district because those communities are dependent on each other and share many issues and concerns.

FYI - Mt. Clemens, Harrison Twp. and Clinton Township should be in the same Senate district. They are very connected in many ways, including in the makeup of the population, and waterfront issues. The only thing that Brandenburg has in common with Clinton is the "Twp" at the end of their names! Please review this and change.

Do not like! Warren and Sterling Heights belong together - shared school system, infrastructure, industry and a lot of crossover between cities. These two large cities have far more in common in Macomb County than they do with Detroit in Wayne County. Please fix! And thanks for your hard work!

The city of Ann Arbor needed to be unpacked. The Commission recognized the importance of unpacking cities when drawing districts in Lansing and Grand Rapids. Why is Ann Arbor the exception? More representation for the Senate would be good!

East Grand Rapids does not align with the communities currently in this district. It doesn't have have low-cost housing issues of other cities/townships in this area; nor does it have the high density residences. They don't share common issues. It does not have a significantly diverse population as does the communities it is currently placed with.

East Grand Rapids and Cascade Townships should be included with the northern district. They do not have a common community of interest in their current location that includes many rural townships. The airport in this area should be incorporated along with the city of Grand Rapids because of its integral services.

By combining Oakland County with Detroit and other parts of Wayne, and in some places Macomb, as well as combining Macomb in some places with Detroit makes no sense in a State Senate district. First of all, this map could very possibly mean no representation for Detroit, which would be horrible. District 13 would be better if it did not include Detroit, but did include Hazel Park and Madison Heights, which belong with Oakland, not Macomb. The Detroit districts look very gerrymandered. Detroit deserves to be represented by Detroiters. Alternatively, this district could extend west into Southfield in some way, as well as including Madison Heights and Hazel Park. If that was done, then the northern part of the district could go to District 14. The main point is that it should not include Detroit and should be all Oakland County. This also splits the Jewish community in the Southfield/Oak Park/Huntington Woods area, which is a community of interest.

This map overall favors the Republican Party. Please revise it so that the split between the major parties is closer to an even split.

WE are concerned about the overall configuration of the entire map. So many of the basic issues that should be your "gospel beliefs" are simply ignored. (partisan fairness? Communities of interest?) We urge you to keep working and working and working. We implore you to avoid the mistakes of the last gerrymander.

Mount Clemens and Clinton Township should share a district. Our communities have shared business and economic concerns. Our district should not stretch north other communities.

Mount Clemens would be best combined with Roseville, Clinton Township, Saint Clair Shores, and Fraser. This is important as these communities are very similar and for partisan fairness. They all expanded at the same time during the mid-1900s and have the same infrastructural concerns. Plus, there is a large push to keep lake-shore communities together, which makes sense as they will have similar concerns. Mount Clemens is surrounded by these communities and the concerns of the residents of Mount Clemens are very similar to the surrounding communities.

SD 16 is ridiculous and deprives half of Sterling Heights of fair representation. Any district including Sterling Heights should be extending down into Warren, NOT up into Rochester and Oakland Charter Twp. Sterling Heights and Warren share multiple communities of interest. We are both homes to major automotive plants, strong Polish-Ukrainian communities, and have historically grown together hand in hand for decades. I'm galled by this map in particular because it cracks the Polish Ukrainian community between three districts: 6, 8, and 16. That guts our ability to be represented at all. Fix this and put Sterling Heights and Warren back together.

This map continues the bizarre configuration that the last gerrymander created. St. Clair Shores is split from Fraser, Eastpointe, and Roseville. The St. Clair Shores lakeside people should be together. Geographically, Instead of going way into the thumb, we picked up Grosse Pointe. Still a very very strange map. PLEASE PLEASE keep working

Warren and Sterling Heights should share a Senate District. They are sister cities and should share a senator.

I would like to see Mt Clemens included with Clinton Township and also to see the part of Clinton Township north of the city of Mt Clemens included with the Township, not with the lakeside communities. Splitting the township into two and also including part of Wayne County in the district dilutes the voice of our township, which is the largest population township in the state. It also feels like you are diluting the voice of Macomb County in general by including parts of Wayne County with so many Senate districts.

Sterling Heights and Warren are strong communities of interest. District 6 and 16 would be best re-worked to have Sterling Heights and Warren together. They are extremely similar communities and Sterling Heights itself is cut in half, which was an issue with the prior districts.

I do not agree with this map as proposed. Sterling Heights and Warren are more natural partner communities due to shared economic and infrastructural synergies. While Warren shares a southern border with Wayne County, the economic, local governance, and infrastructural ecosystems are much different. In this case, this border as proposed does not honor these distinctions. The district shoukd be redrawn to include Warre, Sterling Heights, Fraser, and Roseville.

South Warren has historically had a hard time getting representation on council as well as in the state house and senate. By dividing south Warren into multiple districts, you have weakened the voices of the residents and made it harder to get a voice in Lansing. All of Warren should be together with all of Sterling Heights.

We are disappointed that St, Clair shores is configured in such a bizarre fashion. Eastpointe and Roseville share common interests with us. Additionally, Macomb County (is a whole)( is split into a bizarre configuration. Please keep working!!!

This is terrible. You shouldn't pack Democrats in Warren and Detroit together. Warren and Sterling Heights make much more sense being together along with more of Macomb County, not adding Detroit for fair representation.

Warren is Michigan's third largest city. Sterling Heights is Michigan's fourth largest city. To call these two cities "sister cities" is an understatement. People work in Warren, and live in Sterling Heights. People live in Warren and shop in Sterling Heights. These two communities are the most closely connected communities in the county. You can make a fair senate map that makes sense simply by merging these two cities. Please do not dilute the voices in these two cities.

Detroit's western neighborhoods share little with Birmingham. Due to the distinct racial and socioeconomic composition of the two cities, voters in Birmingham and Detroit have different goals. Lumping Detroit and Birmingham together perverts the concept of community of interest so central to Michigan's redistricting process.

Senate district 20 should be rearranged. District 20’s portion of Kent County and northern Allegan County definitely fall within the orbit of Grand Rapids. Most residents of those localities work in the GR metropolitan area. According to the Census Bureau, over 70 percent of workers in Byron and Gaines Townships commute to jobs in Kent County, as do a majority of Dorr Township workers. The northern tip of district 20 belongs with the other Grand Rapids exurbs in districts 3 or 22, not Berrien and Van Buren Counties. One possible solution would be shifting district 20 north to encompass Holland and Grand Haven. District 20 could pick up the southern suburbs and exurbs of Grand Rapids currently split between 20 and 22. Keeping district 20 closer to the lakeshore would place the sizable Hispanic enclaves in Ottawa, Allegan, and Van Buren Counties in the same State Senate district and robustly represent the lakeshore COI, instead of the current fragmentation.

Battle Creek and Kalamazoo share an airport, labor shed, military base, and VA hospital. The ties binding Kalamazoo and Battle Creek are far stronger than the COIs represented in district 3's current form.

District 6 needs to go all the way to the riverfront to be fair! These maps look awful the way the divide up the (democratic) city!

District 14 takes in a wide variety of communities, from Detroit up to Pontiac, that are generally not included together. It cuts across both the Woodward and 696 corridors, and by packing so many Democrats (who lack other commonalities) together it contributes to the statewide scheme's partisan gap.

The line splitting Berrien County make little sense especially in light of how the MICRC (better!) did the state House and US Congressional districts. Splitting the county is fine with me because it does have somewhat distinct sections, but you did better on the other maps keeping like with like. The east part of Berrien is rural, but the coastal part is lakeside tourist all the way down to New Buffalo. I think it would be better to extend district 20 along the coast and shift the southern part of Van Buren County into 26. Paw Paw would probably rather be in 26 too, so perhaps you could also shift it into 26 and balance populations some other way. I feel less strongly about Paw Paw than the coastal area, though, because to balance population somewhere in the counties around Kalamazoo has to be districted with Kalamazoo.

The City of Coopersville should be included in a State Senate district with the City of Grand Rapids because the City of Coopersville uses tap water provided by the City of Grand Rapids making these communities, communities of interest????????????? Also, after every Presidential Election, Michigan's State Senate and Representative membership should be equally proportioned by party to reflect the party voting percentage in the Presidential election, thereby promoting fairness in Michigan politics?????????????

Grand Rapids should be put entirely in one district with Kentwood and East Grand Rapids. This combination is within only a few hundred people of the target population and better represents communities of interest.

Pittsfield Township should not be lumped in with Ann Arbor - it has its own needs that are more similar to western Washtenaw. There was some compelling testimony to this effect on Friday 10/8. Please move this to District 29.

Saline has more in common with small towns in western Washtenaw like Chelsea and Deter and Manchester, and less with major cities like Ann Arbor and Ypsi/Ypsi Twp. It should be moved to District 29.

Scio Township is clearly part of western Washtenaw, and should be in that district instead.

There is no reason to split Hillsdale County - all of it should be in District 26.

I don't think there was ANY comment in favor of putting Calhoun and Jackson together at the Jackson public hearing or since. Not sure why this is here. Certainly Marshall and rural Calhoun belong with Battle Creek. I could see keeping Albion with Jackson but that's it.

I live in Ada Township. Cascade Township and Kentwood are areas that I go to frequently such as to shop and they are in my Community of Interest and should be in my district along with the northern and eastern areas of Grand Rapids. I never go to Coopersville and Allendale in Ottawa CO and they should be removed from the proposed district 24 as shown in this map. Cascade Township and Kentwood should be added to the same district 24 (grey-brown) shown in this map with Ada Township.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment. And from reading the other comments I can see you have a lot of opinions to weigh. I just thought part of the plan was to create nice compact districts around a community of interest so I am surprised to see the Grand Rapids Metro area split among three or four districts that spread through several counties and all the way to Indiana. The population of the metro area would fit rather nicely into two districts, I think, The airport and all the suburbs and shopping in cascade are part of the metro area. Dividing the metro area of Kent County into two compact districts would allow the more rural areas of Ottawa, Allegan and Barry counties to remain together in their area of interest without pulling in a handful of metro voters. Thanks, and good luck.

My comment is not about my district. I voted for the Commission and I don’t care if Northville is combined with Plymouth, Novi or Ann Arbor. My primary concern is with the electoral fairness of this entire process and whether it is going to continue to favor a minority party statewide. I have lived in Michigan for 20+ years and in every one of the six presidential elections since then, the Democratic candidate has won the majority of votes cast, except in 2016. Similarly, during the same period, Democrats have won the Governor’s office three times. Yet despite the fact that Democrats have won the majority of votes statewide in most elections over the past two decades, only twice has Michigan sent more Democrats to Congress than Republicans, only twice has the State House had a Democratic majority, and never have Democrats controlled the State Senate. The Commission needs to ensure that districts will reflect statewide voting outcomes, not a repeat of a minority of interests having its way and dictating to the majority. What I want is for the party that wins the most votes in Michigan to control the State House, State Senate and the Congressional Delegation. If a party can’t win under this circumstance, it should change its policies, not gerymander districts to keep it in power. Local interests do not outweigh majority rule. The Commission’s delegates have a responsibility to restore confidence in our democracy, which is undermined when a minority party wins control even if it loses elections. I implore you to live up to that responsibility.

Considering the rational in the Dorothy Munson comments below, this looks like an excellent opportunity to reduce/eliminate packing in the south #23 district, more fairly represent the large number of Democratic voters in the area and improve overall statewide partisan fairness percentage. Greatly improves meeting the requirement for Communities of Interest as well.

I live in Cascade Twp and it REALLY needs to be aligned North Kent County Senate map #24. The Airport and Ada are all aligned with this region which is serviced by the Airport! Cascade is both affluent and metropolitan in it's interest and makeup. It only makes sense to align "like" areas. East Grand Rapids borders Cascade Twp and has the same make up. It too should be included in Senate map #24. I really don't see a "non-partisan" commitment in these current maps. They still appear very gerrymandered to me.

Dorothy Munson Following are comments to the latest Commission State Senate map VERSION 10-04-21 V1 HD AM SESSION and similar versions in the Greater Grand Rapids Kent County West Michigan area These changes improve the districts around Grand Rapids. This map illustrates the suggested changes map https://davesredistricting.org/join/8f4e299e-9f02-458e-aecb-77ae231858f5 1 Cascade township needs to be included in the north Kent County district senate map (shown in blue) -Has no relationship (community of interest) with the current district drawn (shown in purple)-all the way down to the state line and to Lake Michigan -The airport is there which services the city -It is closely aligned with Ada township to the north in terms of community of interest -It is an integral part of the Grand Rapids Metro area-business, shopping, neighborhoods 2 East Grand Rapids needs to be included with the north district as well -The population community of interest aligns more closely with the north More affluent, middle-class neighborhoods Little manufacturing industry Issues more consistent with the north -East Grand Rapids does not align with the south district (shown in green) in community of interest Does not have issues with low-cost housing and housing density Does not have issues to be addressed that the significant minority population in the south has More manufacturing industry and working-class areas 3 These changes provide for removing the 4 rural counties to the west in Ottawa counties from the north district -these counties do not fit into community of interest in the Kent County Grand Rapids Metro area north senate district 4 The south district will need to expand slightly further south and/or west in the Grand Rapids Metro area to make up for the slight shift of population to the north district 5 In addition, the current Commission State Senate map VERSION 10-04-21 V1 HD AM SESSION as drawn is Gerrymandered and disenfranchises the concentration of Democratic voters in the Grand Rapids Area. The south district packs Democrats into one area and provides for a Republican majority in the north when the overall percentage of democrats in the six-city area plus close townships combined area is 53.3%. And all the surrounding districts are strong Republican. The changes recommended and the suggested map https://davesredistricting.org/join/8f4e299e-9f02-458e-aecb-77ae231858f5 will help address the overall state partisan fairness that is currently leaning Republican rather than Democratic as it should according to the overall state voting percentages.

Cascade township and East Grand Rapids should both be included with the northern Grand Rapids district; the communities are part of the greater Grand Rapids metro area, and connecting them together into one senate district would create a district that can be more reasonably represented. Cascade has no connection with the current district it is drawn in, and does not share a community of interest with the communities further south. Effective representation for residents of Cascade - many of whom use Grand Rapids city water and sewer systems - would mean including them in the broader Grand Rapids community where they live, work, and play. Instead, I urge the commission to adjust the northern district to include Cascade with closely aligned areas, such as the township of Ada and the northern part of Grand Rapids. Grand Rapids is the second largest city in the state, and residents of the city and surrounding metro area deserve adequate representation. The city needs to be split to ensure that we have a fair voice in Lansing, and our metro areas (ex. the Grand Rapids airport is in Cascade) should be kept together.

Split Ann Arbor and Ypsi up! This district is an 80% democratic pack. Put Ann Arbor with Dexter and Manchester instead.

Van Buren and Allegan should be kept whole and together for the Senate as a community of interest. They share many functions of government as well as a large Hispanic population. Both are rural, agriculture and tourism based economies with many similar small towns through the counties. Aside from being a community of interest, together, they fit nicely as about 2/3 of a Senate district and could take in other parts of similar rural or coastal counties. Holland would be a good fit, Barry County would be another. Van Buren and Allegan have much more in common with each other than they do with the "Michiana" border counties.

Grand Rapids, Kentwood, and East Grand Rapids have the perfect population to create a State Senate District, 265,000 people. Why are you splitting Grand Rapids?