This map does not represent where my family works, attends school, or spends our time and money. We should be included in the Fenton district.

Keep Midland County whole

Makes no sense to split up Midland and Saginaw counties. This also goes against intent shared in original vote for redistricting.

Palm is the best option, this map is bad because the rural voices of Jackson county will not be fairly represented.

I am very disappointed in the State Senate maps presented. I have to agree with SOOO many people who stated the maps have been gerrymandered to falsely promote “political fairness” while at the same time dismissing “communities of interest”. This experiment in “redistricting” is proving to be a farce. I have to agree with the masses who believe your prioritizing process has been unconstitutional and I hope these maps are challenged in court.

Keep Midland County whole.

Keep Midland and Gladwin counties together and whole.

No to Cherry V2. It is a bad map as it slices up Midland County.

This map is not good. it slices up Midland county which dilutes midland county voices

Again a perfect example of true gerrymandering. This map is a great example of commissioners slicing up COI, contiguity, and slicing up Midland County for political reasons.

Keep Midland city and county with like communities. Representation voices the community’s needs and isn’t about political correctness or political advantage. Use common sense. This is not a map which represents like communities

Do not slice up Midland County- unacceptable

The City and County of Midland need to remain in place, together.

Please reject this map. It is not fair and does not represent my communities of interest.

This map does not appear fair and it does not represent my communities of interest.

Bad idea.

Not working for us in MIdland and Gladwin

Not a good map because it is splitting up Midland County.

Midland county needs to stay whole.

Keep Midland city and county together! Stop splitting us up! Our city and county work hand in hand on many issues and the lines between us are virtually non-existent. We are one community!

Keep Midland and Midland county together. Separating it from Sanford which is so linked with the shared watershed. Looks like Gerrymandering to split up the county only to mix with Bay City and Saginaw. Totally different cities and issues.

This map cuts the County of Midland into separate districts and makes no sense. The County of Midland needs to remain whole and with counties to the north and west.

This map is terrible. It does not keep Jackson County together as a community of interest despite the comments made by so many citizens at the public hearings to do so. Please keep to the promises made to us back in 2018 – follow the Communities of Interest submitted by the people of Michigan.

Need to keep Midland with counties to the west and keep it WHOLE.

The map could do better (Linden), and it could be worse (Palm).

This map fractures Midland County and makes the least sense. Almost 55 years in Midland County and I would like to continue to share interests with friends and family to the north and west.

Makes no sense to separate the City of Midland from Midland County

This map appears to go out its way to promotes large urban center and take away the voices of smaller rural areas. While maps will not be perfect they should at least attempt to be fair, and I don't believe this map promotes fairness.

NO! This map does NOT represent communities of interest. Scrap it.

Please listen to the many voices on this portal begging for fair representation! Midland county should not be sliced and diced up. Families in the city of Midland and Midland/Gladwin counties have so much more in common with education, the watershed, law enforcement, etc., than the city of Midland does with Saginaw or Bay City. Midlanders are asking you for fair representation, please. Thank you for your hard work and we are trusting you to do the right thing.

No!

Splitting Midland and Saginaw counties and putting parts of each into separate CD's does not support the Commissions stated goals and does not keep the Midland or Saginaw County COP's whole.

Dividing Midland County makes no sense

The state senate map slices up Midland County. Keep Midland City connected to Midland County and Gladwin County. No Gerrymandering.

This state senate map slicies up Midland County. Keep Midland City connected to Midland County and Gladwin County. No Gerrymandering.

This is a bad map because it splits up Midland County and combines Midland with Bay City, Saginaw, and Flint. As someone who lives in Midland, travels to Saginaw for work, visits Bay City often, and grew up in Genesee County, there is absolutely nothing in common with these communities and Midland. Midland county deserves a unified voice.

Again you are splitting up Midland County. Keep Midland City with it's county and North and Western Neighbors. This makes no sense as you don't need the added population to the already really big cities.

A map that has a district that wraps around several counties, is unfair to Midland County and the communities around it

I disagree with this map.

No, just no. Midland needs to be attached to the West.

Keep Midland County whole!

We rural voters are too stupid to vote right. Thankem for our urban democrat elite masters in Ann Arbor to control us in the right path of Marxism.

This is crazy! What is with District 15? Why would you split Ann Arbor and give them voices alongside rural areas stretching half way across the state? it is a clear effort to drown out rural voices. I don't see how anyone can say they think this is a fair map. Please don't vote for this.

This map is gerrymandered. Look at district 15?????????

Did someone give a toddler hopped up on sugar some crayons? How could anyone capable of clear thought support Cherry V2?

This map does not represent communities of interest.

No on Cherry v2 map. Tragic mix of rural Jackson co with densely populated areas.

This is a bad map as it divides Jackson County and combines the rural area of Jackson County with the City of Ann Arbor. This is not good.

This map should be rejected. It is not fair and does not represent the communities of interest.

This feels gerrymandered to me. There is no need to snatch away the top of Hillsdale County, when the needs of Moscow and Jerome are very similar to the rest of us.

In the Cherry map, Webster Twp. is separated from its main COIs with Dexter, Dexter schools, and Washtenaw County services. The Linden map is much better and retains a Webster with northern Washtenaw County.

Troy should be kept with similar communities to the south, Clawson, Birmingham…

Dislike

I do not like the CHERRY V2 map because it strings the Ann Arbor area way out into the "rural" areas! Those areas need a voice that reflects the "rural" area it is set in, not the "urban" Ann Arbor sound. Please don't adopt this map. The PALM map is much better. Thank you.

This map again is splitting up Midland county and Midland city. Midland county should remain together in one district. Please stop gerrymandering Midland county

I prefer Palm

Please do not use this map. It is not fair and does not represent the communities of interest.

It doesn't make sense to keep Kalamazoo and Battle Creek in separate districts.

This one is way off to how our communities are really reflected.

this district is dumb.

The Cherry map is not a fair map. Please vote NO on Cherry.

This map doesn't appear fair or reflective of desired communities of interest

I dislike this map. Please do not adopt this plan.

I dislike this map. I encourage you to keep Jackson and Washtenaw counties separate as they are very different in needs and interests.

Ann Arbor does not belong with rural Hillsdale, rural Calhoun, and rural Jackson. The Commission has a responsibility to place communities of interest together and this map fails that clear Constitutional criteria.

Ann Arbor is a community of interest and should be together in one district. Joining part of the city of Ann Arbor with Hillsdale, Calhoun and Jackson counties is the exact gerrymandering this commission was supposed to avoid.

This map is a textbook example of partisan gerrymandering. I am disappointed that this commission would split up so many communities of interest Jackson, washtenaw, Calhoun and Hilldale deserve better than this. Respectfully, Megan

We dislike this map. This is gerrymandering. Don’t split up Ann Arbor.

This map does not reflect my community of interest, splitting up Ann Arbor is a partisan gerrymander. This was supposed to end gerrymandering.

This is a bad map that does but recognize our communities

Do not divide a small town area into two distinctly different districts.

Not a good map. Keep waterloo out of the same district as Ann Arbor.

This map is a decent map but it's not quite as fair or as logical as Linden regarding partisan fairness, VRA concerns, or the districting in Washtenaw County (where I lived for over a dozen years).

This map is better than Palm but Linden is the best of the State Senate maps.

I do not like the Cherry V2 State Senate map. It divides Jackson County and combines rural areas of Jackson county, which is rural in character, with densely populated areas in Washtenaw County, including half the city of Ann Arbor . Ann Arbor has public utilities, widely available broadband, and public transportation. Most rural areas don’t have these public services (and don’t need them). These different communities have different needs and require different legislative representation. Please adopt instead the “Palm” State Senate map. It keeps Jackson County whole and combines it with more rural sections of adjoining Counties. Thank you.

This map doesn't serve the city of Grand Rapids well. It would be better to have Grand Rapids as one district and Wyoming/Kentwood/Grandville and separate districts. Those areas are growing and need different representation than Grand Rapids.

I do not like the Cherry V2 State Senate map because it combines rural areas with the city of Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor has vastly different resources and services than rural areas do and therefore need different representation.

Whatever happened to keeping the districts as square as possible? Isn't that supposed to be a main goal when redistricting occurs? Why is it assumed that people have the same interests/opinions just because they are the same race or ethnicity? That's an offensive assumption. This map is a terrible mess.

This map does not demonstrate partisan fairness which is your constitutional duty to uphold. Please accept Palm.

I do not like the Cherry V2 State Senate map. It divides Jackson County and combines rural areas of Jackson county with half of the city of Ann Arbor . Ann Arbor has public utilities, widely available broadband, and public transportation. Most rural areas have none of these things. These different communities have different needs and require different legislative representation. Please adopt instead the “Palm” State Senate map. It does a much better job of satisfying the ‘communities of interest’ objective of this committee. Thank you

Why split Ann Arbor?? They should have their own voice. You didn't split Flint or Kalamazoo, but Ann Arbor? That's garbage.

Prop 2 promised to end drawing lines for political reasons, or gerrymandering. This map makes it even worse by breaking up united communities for blatant political purposes. This map is not TRULY fair to both parties like we were promised.

Does not follow constitutional guidelines, splits up communities of interest.

This map groups too many varied and different counties together, blowing up the communities of interest criteria.

This map is gerrymandered to bias the democrats. Do not use. Use the fairer Palm map instead.

A Very Big NO! What does Hillsdale have in common interest with New Buffalo and Constantine? Why are 3 of our county townships pulled away from us and given to the Ann Arbor area for? They are OUR communities of interest, as is Lenawee and Jackson counties!! Go with Palm on this one!!

Jackson County should be left with the rural counties to the south and west...Jackson County does not belong with Washtenaw County.

Terrible split of Oakland County just to please and reward Democrat strongholds. Need to keep large cities intact and have smaller townships intact.

A truly fair map is one that respects communities and their interests and gives both parties a chance to win majority. This map is not that.

I believe this map disenfranchises Sterling Heights, the state’s 4th largest community, by drawing it into different districts, where no area of Sterling Heights is a majority.

Monroe shares important and pressing Lake Erie and lakeshore issues along with the I75 corridor that needs to coordinate with downriver business and industrial development.

Monroe County has more in common with the Downriver area. We share Lakeshore issues and the I 75 corridor for business and industrial development.

none

This is the worst map of them all. Why would you split calhoun 3 ways, diluting our voices. What on God's green earth does the little town of Homer have in common with Ann Arbor? Apparently their voices mean squat and they don't deserve a representative because no one ever goes to visit Homer, unless you live in Calhoun County and you know that a gem like Homer exists. If you pick this map, there will be even more law suits for how gerrymandered this map is.

Please DO NOT vote this map in, the west side of Calhoun County has NOTHING in common with a majority of the District represented here. Why would a Single District snake for such a length, but if only to cancel out voices. Thank you.

Any map that Splits Ann Arbor is an insult to the people of Ann Arbor, Jackson, and Michigan. Creating a democratic majority at the expense of communities of interest is a joke.

Genesee County have 5 senators??? this is wild. It washes out the communities of interest. this is the 5th largest county in the state and should remain in place.

Please keep Clinton County Whole

I would be living in district 12 (clay township), as a young voter in southern st.clair county I belong in district 25. We as a community group have more in common with people that live in St.Clair county then those that live in Detroit. We have different interests and needs as a community.

I don't agree with these new borders. Canton is already a really crowded place and expanding these borders to Inkster will make it even harder for minority groups to be represented. It also makes it harder for elections. Plymouth and Canton are usually viewed as one entity so it would be easier to include Plymouth instead of Inkster. Also, the demographics of Canton vs. Inkster are completely different and would mess with the funding system.

I believe it is unnecessary that Plymouth is part of district 5 instead of district 13. It is a better idea for both to share a district because they could also share a school district. District 5 is off of the target by 4302 people and District 13 has an extra 2688 people. This completely throws off the balance.

In my opinion, district 13 is more diverse regarding race, compared to other suburban town groups in the Western suburbs. So in that sense, the voices of many communities will be present in this proposed district. However, while I know it is inevitable to split towns in half during re districting, Farmington Hills and Farmington are in completely different districts, and Commerce Charter Township (and a little bit of Walled Lake) are completely cut in half. This makes me concerned about how the districts will tackle education if they are splitting up towns. As a resident of Plymouth, our school districts are connected with Canton’s - and Canton isn’t even included in this district. It’s obviously not just about Canton and Plymouth’s needs, but considering we have an extremely large school district and are correlated in many different ways, I believe they should be in the same district.

This districting map splits up Plymouth and Canton, two cities that are pretty much one and the same. I go to PCEP high school, which has students from both Canton and Plymouth. Because of this, I, and many of my fellow students, feel that we are of the same community. Additionally, Plymouth and Canton share a similar demographic, so it only makes sense to group the two together to ensure representation of the ethnic groups in the area. Not to mention the border boundaries look very odd, with district 13 stretching all the way down from Novi to incorporate Plymouth.

The district line between Plymouth and Canton is unnecessary, and could cause a lot of disturbances between the communities, since they are connected, by schools. Separating Plymouth and Canton would disrupt school districts and communities. The district line is unnecessary because both districts are able have a similar, diverse demographic and are economically similar. Dividing Plymouth and Canton would cause issues that could be easily avoided. Even though, some areas of either cities have different socioeconomic factors, they are still very similar.

I don't think drawing the line between Plymouth and Canton is a good idea. The populations of Plymouth and Canton are similar in terms of things like economic status and racial diversity. They also share a school district so splitting them apart could cause lots of problems.

As a member of Canton Township, I believe that the separation of Plymouth and Canton is not a good idea. This is because both Plymouth and Canton share a school district. This would cause school transportation systems (such as buses) to be disrupted if the boundaries were changed. Also, most of the ethnic groups in both the Plymouth and Canton are largely well-respresented resulting in their being no need to make the change.

I don't think drawing the line between Plymouth and Canton was a beneficial idea. The populations of Plymouth and Canton are similar in terms of economic status, racial diversity, and political diversity. Plymouth and Canton also share a school system so splitting them into two separate districts has the potential to cause more conflicts that could negatively impact the efficacy of the current system.

As someone who has lived in Canton, Michigan since birth, I think that Westland and Canton should be split. I also think that the line between Plymouth and Canton is unnecessary. This is because both towns/cities have very similar population demographics. They also have a joint school district and transportation system.

I don't think the line drawn between Canton and Plymouth is necessary. This is because both Canton and Plymouth have similar demographics with substantial populations of many ethnic groups. Also, Plymouth and Canton share a similar education system. If the border was drawn, transportation systems for the school system would be disrupted creating unnecessary hassle.

I believe that the separation of Canton and Plymouth districts would not be a good idea. Our communities are too alike and doing something of this scale really puts a burden on the people. While reading through the comments I see many people sharing the same doubts as I. As a student who goes to a PCEP school the separation of the district will create differences among us that are not currently there and Id like for it to stay that way.

I don't think it is a good idea to split up the University of Michigan North Campus from the South Campus. This map cuts off the North Campus Residence halls from the rest of the University.

I think that Canton shouldn't be separated from Plymouth because they fall under the same school district and the new districts would affect the school population. Also with the new district lines there would be less diversity in the population. This is because most of the people living in Westland, Garden City and Inkster have more working class people, whereas in Canton and Plymouth there are people with a more diversified background and occupation.

I believe that these new borders are not ideal. It's splitting up Canton and Plymouth. The diversity within the new borders is not as diverse as the current borders. Plymouth and Canton are also school districts together, and splitting it up would cause new conflicts.

You've got Milan on the wrong side of the fence here. For years Milan's Washtenaw County residents have been represented by people in the Ann Arbor area. Many residents of Milan City proper, both in Monroe and Washtenaw counties are people who are from the Ann Arbor area and moved to get affordable housing. This map disenfranchises people in Milan, especially the Washtenaw County carve out, as we will not be well-represented by anyone coming from District 16. Either split at the county line or carve out southern Milan and put it in with Ann Arbor in District 15.

I do not agree with the way the district borders are drawn out, and they should be changed to include Plymouth and Canton in the same district. Canton and Plymouth share a similar demographic and population. They also have very connected communities, such as the shared school district, more so than Plymouth and Northville or Canton and Inkster and Westland. Also, adding Plymouth to the district would increase diversity in the area. The district could be expanded to include Northville as well, but it should at least include Plymouth and Canton together.

I don't think a line was needed to be drawn between Canton and Plymouth. Canton and Plymouth are very similar. For example, they have very similar demography and are part of the same school district. The voters' influence of both Plymouth and Canton is going to go down because of the divide. Overall, Plymouth shares more similarities with Canton than it does with Northville or Novi, so, therefore, Canton and Plymouth should be included within the same district.

Please keep Troy with other Oakland County jurisdictions, such as Clawson and/or Birmingham to the South rather than putting it in a district with Macomb County/Sterling Heights. Troy COI , as noted by others, align with Oakland County and keeping it so districted would provide fairer representation.

I disagree with the map where canton and plymouth fall. Canton should be included in plymouth district for many reason. They are in the same school district (Plymouth-Canton Community Schools) so that should be a sign that they should be together. Also they are much more similar to that district and most of the towns in there rather than the towns in its district like westland and inkster. I do understand there is never going to be a perfect map and that no one is ever going to agree so it could be a lot worse.

Canton should not be in the same district as Westland. Instead they should be with Plymouth, Northville, and Novi. Not only does Canton share a school district with Plymouth, but in culture Canton shares much more in common with Plymouth, Northville, and Novi. In general Canton is seen to have a good amount of money like Plymouth, Northville, and Novi. In general people are more alike depending on how far up, and down river they are. It is hard to make this district map because there are so many small districts and people in SE Michigan, but to make the districts more effective with the people inside them being more similar, Canton should not be grouped with cities South or East of them, only North

Hello everyone my name is Sarah I and I don't believe the line between Canton and Plymouth is needed. Canton and Plymouth pretty much the same demographic and community. One problem out of many is that they share their school districts. What will happen to it if Canton and Plymouth are separated? Plymouth has many connections and has many smaller interconnections that may be affected if these two cities are broken up. If we were to expand the border however we should expand it to Northville as the community much like Canton and Plymouth. We should do this because not only the community but also the amount of "wealth" in this area. So to sum up: don't break up Canton and Plymouth, But if you want to expand, add in Northville

This is a very poorly drawn map because it mutes the voices of rural voters in Hillsdale and Jackson Counties.

Splitting Ann Arbor and Jackson, are you serious? Can the commission give an honest answer for how that is justified by VRA or community of interest considerations?

Jackson should not be included with Ann Arbor

Troy COI deeply align with Oakland county and have little in common with Macomb county

I don't think the line between Canton and Plymouth was necessary. Both Canton and Plymouth are very similar, and they have a similar demographic. They also share the same school district, as they are closely connected. If Canton and Plymouth were grouped together, the quality of education would significantly increase. Overall, Plymouth shares more similarities with Canton than with Northville, and thus, they should be included within the same district.

Troy has far more in common with Clawson and Madison Heights than with Sterling Heights/Utica. I believe Troy should be drawn within Oakland County

I don't think think district 13 was drawn very well. District 13 is mostly Plymouth Northville, and Novi. I think that Northville and Novi have a different demographic than Plymouth and the two places will have different interests. Also, the voting influence of Plymouth residents will go down because the needs and priorities of the Northville and Novi residents will outnumber those of the Plymouth residents.

I don't think there was a need for a line to be drawn between Canton and Plymouth in district 5 and 13. This is because both of the places are similar, with a similar demographic. Also, the people share things like a school district and many parks, which is why they should be grouped together. The people will have similar interests and their population together would equal around what the populations of the other districts were, which is why those two should be together.

I believe the map should be drawn differently to combine Plymouth and Canton, with other areas such as Westland, Garden City, and Livonia combined separately. Because Plymouth and Canton share a school district, especially with the high school, it would make more sense to combine the two communities since they always have been very intertwined. There is also a significant wealth gap between Plymouth and Canton vs. many of the other cities in district 5, such as Westland and parts of Livonia, so putting those two different communities together could cause issues with equal representation and education opportunities. The boundaries of districts 5 and 13 should definitely be reconsidered because they would divide diverse cities that have always worked well together and combine cities that have significant wealth gaps and school district differences between each other.

It would be better financially because we would gain more government dollars. We would be more recognized in washington dc because both canton and plymouth combined would be a bigger city. We would gain more resources by combining the two districts as well. We could also attract more companies to move to our area.

I continually am confused at why Plymouth and Canton are split on these redistricting maps. The two cities are nearly inseparable, have one school district centered around a combined group of high schools. How is it that families with students in the same school district would be in different voting districts. I am possibly more confused at why in its place Inkster is included. I can't say that I even know anyone from Inkster, and it changes the population and financial makeup of the voting district.

I agrees with putting Northville and plymouth together, as they are two towns with similar, suburban type population. What I find weird is that Canton and Plymouth are not in the same district, because we probably share even more similarities with them than Northville. Heck, we even share a high school with eachother. In the end, DIstrict 13 is good, but in order to improve it, you must include Plymouth and Canton to the same district.

Keep Berrien whole.

Your constitutional duty is to consider communities of interest. This map divides our rural voices with that of major metropolitan areas. We ask for fairness, not divisions with attempts to divide us and give unfair advantage to big cities. Please consider the PALM map, which allows our rural voices to have fair representations.

It may make more sense for Troy/Rochester to be included with Birmingham/Clawson and removed completely from Sterling Heights.

This is not a good map for Jackson County as it splits it in two - and both halves get attached to Washtenaw County and the university city of Ann Arbor. There could not be two more dissimilar communities of interest - rural, small manufacturing vs big university city. These communities do not share similar needs or solutions. The Palm State Senate map is a better option.

Maps gives disproportionate advantage to one party and does not reflect obvious COIs in south-central Michigan. This violates the spirit of Prop 2 by ignoring communities and party-favoritism.

I do not like how this map is drawn. I think it splits up communities that work well together and limits diversity. It does not provide adequate resources for everyone now. It also takes away the large variety of cultures and interests. I think the cities will benefit more from being grouped with many different types of people.

Just NO. Everywhere. Just NO. Horrible map.

This map does not align with the "communities of interest" principle as well as the Palm map. Too much combining of rural and metropolitan areas. Looks like lots of gerrymandering to favor the Democrat Party it appears. I thought the commission was about "people and not politics".

What a crazy convoluted map. I have no knowledge of the communities that snake to the east. Some of these maps leave me suspicious of the true intent of the constitutional amendment.

Does not create as many competitive districts a Palm proposal.

This definitely does not keep the communities of interest together. It cuts Grosse Pointe Park into three pieces.

This map is outlandish. What rational reason, other than gerrymandering, could there possibly be for dividing 2 counties in half. All this does is give the larger urban area of Ann Arbor more of a voice than the small rural areas of Jackson County. This committee was supposed to be impartial and take politics out of it. The PALM map is the best of the options for fairness in redistricting. Please DO NOT select this map. Please DO SELECT PALM. Thank you.

This district does not represent my community.

This is the worse map of all. Separating Jackson County in half. The voters of Jackson will never be given a fair chance at reprensentation.

I dislike this map. It does not keep Jackson county whole and needlessly divides it. Jackson county should never be lumped into the same district as Ann Arbor, unless gerrymandering is the goal.

This Ann Arbor split is bizarre. It may make the Ann Arbor democratic activists happy that they can supersede the Jackson folks and guarantee a democratic majority, but it has no basis in communities of interest. Nor is it fair, as anything other than a 19-19 split is a disproportionate advantage.

There is ZERO reason to split Ann Arbor for community of interest reasons. The only reason to do such a thing is to unfairly give democrats an insurmountable edge. We were told this commission would respect communities of interest. This map does NOT do this.

This map is not balanced and unfairly represents urban areas

I do not like the Cherry V2 State Senate map. It divides Jackson County and combines rural areas of Jackson County with half of the City of Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor has more public service offerings, widely available broadband, and public transportation. Most rural areas, like Waterloo Township, have none of these things. Rural communities have VERY different needs and require different legislative representation. Please use the PALM State Senate map. It better represents my community. Thank you.

This proposed map unnecessarily divides up Jackson County splitting up our current Community of Interest. Please do adopt this map. The Chestnut map keeps the Jackson Community of Interest together.

Do not like

The Cherry V2 State Senate map combines rural areas of Jackson County way too much with the urban area of Washtenaw County. I am disappointed to see how unfair these map options are for those of us living here in Jackson County. This map appears to have been designed to drown out our rural Jackson voice as the Senate representatives would be too busy bending to the specialized needs, demands, and ultimately ‘dollars’ of Washtenaw County. Please do not adopt this map. The alternate Palm State Senate is the better choice. Thank you.

This is not good for Jackson County as a whole.

This splits the entire East side of Lansing from the city. Its integral to the city, not to East Lansing, Meridian et al.

Don't split up North and South Jackson Co. Ridiculous!

It is obvious what you are doing by splitting up three different counties to create new districts! Let Jackson Co. have our district, and Washtenaw Co. have theirs. No common interests

City folks don't understand the issues and needs of farming communities. This map lumps urban and rural areas together and this will leave farmers without a voice because there is such a lack of ties to agriculture today. Please keep Jackson County together in one district. I am a senior citizen and I rely on services in my community of Jackson. Thank you.

Priority should be based on community of interest. This maps splits up Jackson County and the community of interest it serves! This is partisan gerrymandering. Please remember that the law states that districts should not provide a disproportionate advantage for any political party.

This map is absurd, it guarantees that Jackson County voters will not a voice to represent them. With the nod given recognizing communities of interest in the Congressional mapping, this is a slap of recognition that it isn't being taken into consideration at all here.

I do not like the Cherry V2 State Senate map. It divides Jackson County and combines rural areas of Jackson county with half of the city of Ann Arbor . Ann Arbor has public utilities, widely available broadband, and public transportation. Most rural areas have none of these things. These different communities have different needs and require different legislative representation. Please adopt instead the “Palm” State Senate map. It does a much better job of satisfying the ‘communities of interest’ objective of this committee. Thank you.

Close, but no cigar! The industrial economic resources of ports, roads, and proximity to Chicago are shared with shoreline counties of Muskegon, Ottawa, and south ... not north with the vacationland counties.

I think the rural area of northeast Ottawa county would be better served if they were included with the rest of Ottawa county.

This is a really bad map for mid-Michigan. It splits Lansing and East Lansing and groups them each with their own rural areas. The focus should be on creating a district (or two) that represents Lansing/East Lansing and one (or two) that represent the more rural areas.

You can't be serious with this map. It certainly shows the bias of the committee. I an insulted that as an immigrant, you separated my district making it a mess.

This is ridiculous. Having Salem Township be a part of this gerry-mandered district that includes Livingston and Jackson counties makes no sense. Most of the folks in Salem Township have a South Lyon address. Most consider them a part of the "South Lyon" area. They go there to shop, dine, socialize, go to church, etc. Salem Township should be in the same district as South Lyon and Lyon Twp.

This is absurd. There is no reasonable explanation to split the city of Ann Arbor besides trying to guarantee a democratic majority. That is not the job of the commission. They should respect communities of interest. Any changes for blatant partisan reasons like this is pure gerrymandering.

The Commission has done a commendable job on the Congressional and State House district maps keeping Kent County reasonably intact. The proposed State Senate maps are another story. All three collaborative maps have Kent County fragmented into 5 pieces. Each map has southern Kent County combined with Benton Harbor/St. Joseph, as well as other district boundary irregularities. The proposed maps for State Senate are not reasonable and may be worse than the previous gerrymandered maps. It surprises me that this fragmentation is not obvious to the Commission, and that the Commission considers these maps acceptable. I oppose the three proposed State Senate maps. The proposal to combine southern Kent County with Benton Harbor/St. Joseph is absurd. The citizens of Benton Harbor have major concerns with lead in drinking water. How well would their concerns be addressed if their state senator lived in far-away Kent County? Maybe the Commission hasn’t heard from Benton Harbor. The residents of Benton Harbor have to worry about their day-to-day drinking water and do not have the luxury to monitor Commission proceedings. It would be nice to think that everyone has an equal opportunity to participate, but that’s not how the real world works. It’s up to the Commission to use best judgment and to develop reasonable district boundaries. The Commission considers Grand Valley State University (GVSU) a Community of Interest and has based one senate district on this premise. The student population is about 25,000. This compares with a senate district size of 260,000. What about the other 235,000 people in the district and their communities of interest? Much has been made of urban communities versus rural. The northern Kent County communities of Sparta, Rockford, and Cedar Springs are an easy commute to Grand Rapids, and northern Grand Rapids can be linked as a Community of Interest with them. Another thing that the Commission has not considered is the population growth of Kent County. The areas that are considered rural are already becoming more urbanized and will become more so in the next ten years. Connecting disparate communities into one district does not foster consensus needed for representative government to flourish, and this action ultimately defeats the whole process of redistricting. Representative government benefits from cohesive districts, where common community goals, objectives, and consensus can be formed. I believe that truly representative government is essential in dealing with the challenging issues of today. Today’s issues are too critical to wait another ten years for new redistricting to occur. Citizens trust the Commission to do the right thing. Please do the right thing and redraw the State Senate maps keeping Kent County intact. I have a proposed map, p6745, that you can use as a starting point. Thank you.

The boundary between district 30 which cuts across Grand Rapids along Fulton should be moved south to Wealthy St. when making its border to district 29 to the south.

None of Ottawa CO west of Kent CO should be in the same district with Kent CO and should be removed from district 30. If you then need population to add to district 30 take portions of northeast Kent CO around Cannonsburg and add them to district 30. This would also help to keep Kent CO whole.

This districting "solution" represents a partisan attempt to force together communities which have little in common. Whether intentional or unintentional, the result of such a map will be the dilution of the political voice of the people of Hillsdale and Jackson, who have little to nothing politically in common with the voters of Ann Arbor.

All three of these maps are bad because they split the city of Livonia in two and divorce it from neighboring communities of interest in Western Wayne County. Please go back, stop trying to "unpack" Detroit in strange ways, and draw districts that let Detroiters represent Detroit. This will then allow you to keep Livonia and Western Wayne County communities together as they are in today's Senate District 7.

This district, because of the heavy partisan lean, invalidates my vote. Districts should be as close to equal as possible. There is nothing about this area that requires such a gap.

Districts 14 & 15 are nothing but partisan gerrymandering. The interests of Jackson county and of Hillsdale, in particular, will not be represented under these proposed districts. A district is supposed to preserve the distinct characteristic of a particular community so that it can be represented. There is nothing with districts 14 and 15 that preserve the distinct interests of Jackson county. These districts are anathema to both fairness and republican government.

Districts 14 & 15 are absurd and are nothing more than gerrymandering. Ann Arbor districts that extends across 1/2 the state, come on. Other than a highway which runs through the area, there is little commonality between these areas and will result in these communities' voices being drowned out by Ann Arbor. Completely unfair!

Districts 14 and 15 render the rural interests of the Hillsdale and Jackson county subservient to the neoliberal and urban interests of Ann Arbor and Yipsi

The citizens of Jackson County and particularly Hillsdale have no interests or sentiments in common with the people of Ann Arbor. These districts would in no way promote so called "partisan fairness." They essentially crack the votes of rural and conservative voters across two districts which will be dominated by the more populous and liberal cities of Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor. There is nothing fair about turning a traditionally conservative district into two liberal ones.

I am honestly bewildered by the unequitable drawing of districts 14 & 15. I thought we were trying to avoid districts tortuously drawn for political advantage! What do Spring Arbor and Ann Arbor have in common besides the name "arbor"?? Jackson county people share workplaces, playgrounds, neighborhoods, churches, and all the other venues where community happens---all the traits of authentic community that they do not share with Ann Arbor, which of course has its own community. Wouldn't it make more sense for Jackson and Washtenaw counties to be their own districts? Ann Arbor's population is greater than all the towns in Jackson County combined, so pairing the two would effectively silence Jackson voices. (Notice that the favorable comments are all from Ann Arbor area... it's human nature to not mind getting disproportional influence...) I appreciate the hard work of the commission, but unfortunately, it seems all too clear that the old ideological and special interests are trying to surreptitiously influence the commission to sneak in gerrymandering through the backdoor.

What do the people of Hillsdale County have in common with the people of Ann Arbor? These may as well be different nations. They share almost no interests in common. One thrives on agriculture and industry, the other on technology, education, and service jobs. Their political and social beliefs diverge as starkly as any two communities in the nation. How will the small, rural pockets in Moscow, Somerset, and Mosherville have their voices heard amid the overwhelming influence from Ann Arbor? Half a dozen densely packed apartment complexes in Ann Arbor outweigh an entire township in northern Hillsdale County. Before the non-partisan redistricting committee came to power, this was not an issue. Hillsdale County was not gerrymandered and its interests were not diluted by crowded cities. Please correct this error and restore northern Hillsdale County to District 17.

The lines drawn for Districts 14 and 15 are naked attempts at a partisan gerrymander to dilute the interests of rural voters in northern Hillsdale County and Jackson county by swallowing them up with voters in Ann Arbor. The Michigan Constitution states that lines should be drawn with a view to grouping voters based on the views of "communities of interest." Voters in Ann Arbor have no common interests with those of rural communities. This is a shameful map designed to to give more power and influence to those in more affluent and suburban and urban neighborhoods. These districts should be redrawn with a better eye towards preserving counties together and with a greater consideration for which voters should actually be grouped together based on their genuine common interests.

District 15 is swallowed up by city interests and will not represent the predominantly conservative and rural voters of northern Hillsdale County. In that respect, it appears to be classic gerrymandering, designed to dilute or destroy the representation of disfavored voters. Please reconsider this portion of the District 15 map. Thank you.

Explain to me how the strange way that districts 14 and 15 are drawn protects "communities of interests." It's obvious to everyone that this new map is meant to dilute and disregard the interests of rural communities in the Hillsdale and Jackson counties by lumping them in with urban Ann Arbor. Southern Michigan does NOT share the same interests as Ann Arbor. This new independent redistricting commission is using the same old partisan gerrymandering to give an unfair advantage to urban districts!

I oppose this map due to the fact it divides Midland County. I am a councilman for the Village of Sanford. We work very closely with Midland county and the City of Midland . We need to have a single voice representing our issues. As of last years national disaster we need focused representation to help us rebuild the massive destruction of our area and communities!!

Examine the substance of the comments on the map. Those who oppose the attachment of rural and conservative communities in Districts 14 and 15 to Ann Arbor offer a reason: the larger number of liberal votes in Ann Arbor functionally silences the fewer conservatives who would now be attached from the areas of Jonesville, Jerome, Somerset, etc. Look at the comments of those in favor - they make claims without proof, saying that representation of diverse interests will be the result without offering any explanation of how, directly contrary to simple logic. This is clearly a gerrymandering initiative being supported here in this forum by people with partisan interests without the benefit of reason or facts. Let's be better than this.

I live in Hillsdale County and the citizens of my region of Michigan have very little in common with those in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. My region and that of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti share neither cultural nor economic interests. District 15 is a clear violation of Michigan Constitution's Art. 4§6(13)(d), which proscribes drawing districts in order to advance the political interests and electoral advantages of a particular political party. This effort *clearly* constitutes partisan gerrymandering in order to dilute the political efficacy of GOP voters in Jackson and Hillsdale in favor of the Democratic Party. Willful distortions of true political representation, the cornerstone of our popular government, is not something Michiganders can abide.

I live in Hillsdale County and I can tell you the people of northern Jonesville, Jerome, and Somerset have little in common with those in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. These are not "communities of interests" that share cultural, historical, or economic interests (per Michigan Constitution, Art. 4§6(13)(c)). District 15 is a violation of Art. 4§6(13)(d) that prohibits drawing districts in such a way to give disproportionate advantage to any political party: liberal Dems in Ann Arbor will clearly dilute if not utterly drown out conservative GOP voters in Jackson and Hillsdale. This districting is obviously gerrymandering for partisan purposes.

Please shuffle these districts around. First, the border of the southern Kent County seat should be Wealthy, not Fulton. Also, Cascade makes more sense to be in the southern half of Grand Rapids because of the airport and not East Grand Rapids. Lastly, please shift the surrounding districts . District 20 contains Byron Township in the North and Benton Harbor to the South. These areas have nothing in common. District 33 has bits and pieces of 7 different counties. District 18 is grabbing parts of Kent County that belong with the other Kent County areas. I believe you can shift these seats around to make every one look better than currently drawn.

Districts 14 and 15 - the districts regarding Ann Arbor - are problematic. As a resident of Hillsdale County, I am especially disappointed in district 15. Members of our community ought not be scooped out and thrown in with the voters in Ann Arbor. Splitting up Hillsdale County divides conservative voters and dilutes the conservative vote in Michigan. If you adopt this map, you will have failed in you efforts to curtail gerrymandering. Please reconsider the Senate districts.

This is map is either malicious or braindead moronic. Whichever it is, it doesn't serve the residents of northern Hillsdale very well. It is and ought to be understood as a giant middle finger to those constituents.

Districts 14 and 15 are egregious examples of partisan gerrymandering. They subordinate rural interests to the urban centers like Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor.

Districts 14 and 15 are ridiculous and totally disregard the rural communities of interest in Hillsdale and Jackson counties. What does Jerome or Moscow have in common with Ypsilanti? Same with Albion and Ann Arbor?

This one again is gerrymandering. Please stop and consider the population requirements for redistricting. This suggestion far exceeds that requirement and therefore only leaves one deduction, you are gerrymandering. We voted for the people by the people and I am very disappointed, except for Commissioners Clark, Lange and Wagner who seem to be contemplating why the people chose citizens to accomplish this process. The families in the City of Midland and the County of Midland have more shared concerns with education, employment, law enforcement, social welfare... than they do with the people in nearby cities. Keep Midland County together, please. Gladwin is part of our watershed district and if not kept together we could loose the much needed help to recover from the dam damages over the next 10 yrs.

The way district 15 just swoops over to scoop up some of Hillsdale County's voters is obvious political partisanship to dilute the effect of those conservative voters. We see what you're doing. You are abusing the authority entrusted to you.

In this map I count 8 districts that cross Wayne county boundaries. My own city of 100,000 is portioned. How does this promote communities of interest?

This is now the 3rd version of the map that I have been told is "Fair". I fail to see how it keeps getting "fairer". With this one, it is clear you are gerrymandering the other way, with all the contorted district shapes. Neighbors should share representation. I live in Webster Township technically, but 3 minutes after I get in my car I am in downtown Dexter. So now you’ve sliced the northern reach of Washtenaw County from the Dexter city limits north and replaced it with Stockbridge? Doesn’t make any sense. Districting should respect county lines wherever possible. Start with each of the counties and then either combine or split as necessary to balance total number of votes and get the right number of districts. Get as close as you can and then stop. But please - no more contorted district lines!!!

The way that districts 14 and 15 have been drawn is shameful partisan gerrymandering. Hillsdale County and Jackson County have nothing in common with the liberal Ann Arbor. They have clearly been lumped in with Ann Arbor in order to allow Democrats to overwhelm the rural population in these areas and effectively deprive these communities of representation. This independent commission was supposed to fix gerrymandering, not make it worse!

Midland and Gladwin counties should be connected in any version of a Senate map. Please provide a Senate map option that reflects the voices of the Tittabawassee watershed communities.

These districts are ridiculous and disrespectful of the right of the people of Jackson County to have representation. Ann Arbor is a unique brand of liberalism way more liberal than most democrats. It is fundamentally undemocratic spread Ann Arbor's influence beyond its city limits.

If there is any care at all for representing the distinct interests of entirely different communities, Districts 14 and 15 must be redrawn. Make no mistake, these proposed districts are no attempt to ensure that every vote matters and that every voice is heard. In actuality, it ensures that the interests of places such as Jackson, Northern Hillsdale County, and various rural areas will be overlooked on account of their inclusion in the same district as Ann Arbor. These very different sets of interests do not admit of mixture. Ann Arbor will dominate and effectively disenfranchise those living in areas that hold different interests. In the spirit of true fairness and representation, these proposed districts must be redrawn.

Neither Hillsdale County nor Jackson share common interests with Ann Arbor. To combine rural geographic communities with a heavily partisan and populated metro area could be seen as an intentional act to undermine the voting power of the citizens of Hillsdale and Jackson Counties.

No part of Jackson or Hillsdale county should be lumped with Ann Arbor. They are worlds apart and share no interests. Ann Arbor couldn't care less about the issues that are important the rural areas around. It should be lumped in with Ypsilanti. To do otherwise is clearly gerrymandering.

District 14 is a disaster. How anyone with half a brain would think that is a representative district is beyond me. Jackson and Ann Arbor similar, since when? All this will accomplish is massive rural areas being ruled over by the leftists in Ann Arbor.

Thank you for improving the partisan fairness on this map. I still have concerns around VRA districts in Detroit. Several VRA districts have been combined with suburbs; the west side of Detroit with Farmington and Redford Charter Twp for example. This disadvantages Detroit, a minority-majority city, and means that residents will never be able to elect a candidate of their choice to represent them in the State Senate. Please reconsider this and respect the rights of VRA districts.

This is NOT my community. I do not travel to Fenton or Fowlerville. This effectively nullifies my vote because my views are not similar nor will anyone elected from this district represent or listen to my or my neighbors south of 8 miles.

District 30 north Grand Rapids should not include these 4 rural townships in Ottawa county. District 30 can easily be improved ( without affecting the balance of the state map districts) by adding Cannon and Algoma townships in Kent county and moving these 4 Ottawa townships to like district 33. Then only minor adjustments to districts 18 and 20 will be necessary. This will vastly improve the communities of interest of each of these districts and keep district 30 area contiguous with Grand Rapids 6 city area and all in Kent county

The number of communities, individual cities, and even precincts you have split to gerrymander these senate districts is an embarrassment to the idea of a citizen redistricting commission. You could have set a gold standard, but you have done a worse job than the politicians because it is clear you don't understand the communities all across out state. You consistently have put Arenac County with northern counties we have no ties to, and kept us separated from Bay County because it helps you draw partisan Democrat maps. Unacceptable.

Hillsdale County does not share a community interest with the area surrounding Ann Arbor. So called "partisan fairness" should not take precedence over the Commission's Constitutionally mandated directive to create districts representative of COIs.

This is not what the Commission was tasked with doing. It was supposed to create districts which represented communities of interest. Northern Hillsdale County and the Jackson are not within the same community of interests as Ipsi and Ann Arbor. So called "partisan fairness," should NOT take precedence over communities of interest, as illustrated in the Michigan Constitution.

I appreciate that the three neighborhoods on the far east side of Detroit are together (East English Village, Morningside, Cornerstone Village). However, I'm still challenged that the district extends far north into Macomb County, where their area is being split into three sections, when they can be in the same district. Why not extend District 10 into Grosse Pointes, instead of streching it out beyond the county line? If communities of interests are to guide the process, then please respect municipal and county lines.

As a resident of Augusta Township who previously worked and lived in Ann Arbor for many years, I fear that my views will not be represented by being in the proposed District 16. I don’t feel that I belong to the community that district encompasses.

The City of Midland and Flint should not be in the same Congressional district. None of your maps provide an option that addresses this. Your maps simply cater to Democrat demands. Independents and Republicans live in these areas too and deserve to be heard in this process. Stop ignoring us. A city of 40,000 has vastly different needs than a city of 100,000. Please change one of your 3 congressional maps to separate Midland from Flint.

My small area below Joy Road and above Eastgate has split our community which belongs with Dexter/Ann Arbor and put us into the Brighton, Fowlerville, Livingston County area. This will invalidate my vote and voice.

This does not look right. Why is a portion of District 22 sticking down into District 14. The area around Chelsea is missing a quarter of its school district. Then there is a square of District 14 placed northwest of Chelsea into another District (light green). District 14 extends too far to the west. I thought there was a program that mathematically balanced population with geography. This looks like political "calculations" not science.

I do not support the Cherry V2 map, as it splits Southfield and Lathrup Village from Oak Park. These 3 communities comprise contiguous African-American and Jewish COIs and this map unfairly separates our communities of interest.

I'm really not seeing the logic of district 15. It snakes over 4 counties and connects communities that have very little in common or connections. I kind of see some logic on 14 in that it follows the I94 corridor, but 15 feels a lot like the bizarre, out-of-touch districts we're trying to get away from.

I just do not understand the commission's reasoning for District 20. Exurb Grand Rapids is not even remotely a community of interest with the lakeshore or South Haven or Benton Harbor! Please reconsider this district!

I only count one district that is plurality black and zero that are majority black. This map is begging to be struck down by courts on VRA grounds.

Splitting cities like Grand Rapids is indefensible if the commission is supposed to be following criteria like communities of interest and avoiding chopping up municipalities. It is extremely easy to draw a clean district with a population extremely close to the target by combining all of Grand Rapids, Kentwood, and East Grand Rapids. Please revise the lines to do this.

A State Senate district consist of 265,000 people. The City of Grand Rapids is 200,000 people. Splitting the City of Grand Rapids into two different districts violates municipal boundaries in an obvious intention to guarantee another democrat senator. The whole City of Grand Rapids must be in the same district since this is a community of interest that is being split. The City Ann Arbor should not be split for the same reasons. The City of Lansing should be in the same district with East Lansing and surrounding communities. The gerrymandering is grotesque.

I like that you have worked on partisan fairness in this map. But my community of the west side of Detroit is lumped in with Farmington and Redford Charter Twp this is to a disadvantage to Detroiters who will never be able to win a candidate of their choice to represent them in the State Senate. Please reconsider Detroit's VRA districts.

How is this not a gerrymander? I'd love to see someone try to explain how this is a community of interest. It was clearly done for partisan reasons and is an insult to the jackson and western Washtenaw community.

How does this represent a community of interest? You think the people in Calhoun have more in common with northern AA than the people in southern AA? This is ridiculous.

Please include East Sterling Heights with rest of Sterling Heights and Troy. Do not disenfranchise the Chaldean communities living in East of Sterling Heights. Map p7997 does this. https://districtr.org/plan/72287?portal. Thank you commissioners.

That anyone of you can say in good conscious that this district will adequately represent the people in the Jackson (I do not live here) area is very telling. They will have their voices drowned out by the Ann Arbor area. The point of this exercise is to give the people in any given district a rep who can advocate for the district; how much attention is really going to be paid to these residents? They deserve effective representation as well. Quit trying to spread Ann Arbor across half the state.