I believe Jason Bauer is happy about the gerrymandered map is because his democrat (marxist) party is going to steal the election from the will of the majority of the people in Michigan by packing rural/suburban districts with super majority for republicans by violating municipal/county boundaries and split up the democrat vote into narrow majority districts. A crook is a crook whether stealing money from a bank or stealing elections from the people.

This is just another map that makes no sense. Living "downriver" and now being grouped with Ann Arbor and much of Washtenaw County seems a bit ridiculous. What do they see that is consistent from one end of 6 to the other?

Time to go to the courts. The democrat party redistricting committee is violating municipal and county boundaries to gerrymander for the democrat (marxist) party.

Northern Ottawa County is cut off from the rest of its rural farming community and will be permanently drowned out by the urban interests of Muskegon and Grand Rapids.

This map puts the city of Grand Rapids and most of its metropolitan region into a lakeshore congressional district – Grand Rapids is an urban community with different economic interests than those cities along the lakeshore. The northern suburbs of Grand Rapids would be included with a congressional district drawn all the way to Midland County – this would hurt constituents of the district when needing access to their congressional district’s office.

This is an absolute S#$% show map

I am a current resident of Muskegon County, former resident of Ottawa Co and also own a business in Ottawa Co. It makes no sense to split Holland from the rest of Ottawa Co and connecting Muskegon & Grand Haven to Gr Rapids. It would have made more sense to include Holland with Muskegon and Gr Haven. Furthermore, Wayland, Dorr, and Sparta are not part of the Gr Rapids district, even though they are nearly an extension of the suburbs now. Reading other comments, especially for Oakland Co and the Detroit Metro areas, I suppose that the commission figured that if everyone was pissed off, they would consider it a booming success. Well, mission accomplished - you've managed to create such a mess that almost nobody is pleased.

Oakland County is divided into 6 DISTRICTS in Michigan. How is that helpful?

Keep Midland County whole

Keep Midland County whole

Splitting Berrien County and putting it with the rural interior counties makes no sense whatsoever. There was community input to keep the lakeshore communities together. Now we will have NO representation at the congressional level.

District 8 looks like the definition of gerrymandering!

This version of Congressional redistricting works well in several aspects for my own proposed district (new MI-06), as it keeps Washtenaw County intact, includes all of Milan and respects the connections between the communities of eastern Washtenaw and western Wayne County. Overall, however, it's not my favorite of the redistricting options. In particular, that single district stretching across the southern border of the lower peninsula is truly odd in terms of disregarding communities of interest. The ecology, economy, and other key elements of SW MI are better respected by keeping Berrien County in a US House district with others to the north, as Birch v2 does. For this reason and for some similarly arbitrary divisions in the eastern part of the Lower Peninsula this proposed map does not pass muster for me.

This is a terrible map for keeping like communities together. Putting Midland in with Flint & Saginaw is a blatantly partisan move. Independent and this commission should not ever be used in the same breath.

Keep Midland County whole.

does not keep communities of interest in mind at all; Lakeside communities have different interests than interior ones.

Keep Midland County whole.

Keep Midland County whole.

The communities are contiguous but don't share a commom interest.

Keep Midland County whole…do not split.

Keep Midland and Gladwin counties together and whole.

Please keep Midland and Gladwin united by preserving and respecting current geographic boundaries and keeping the Tittabawassee watershed communities together.

Keep Midland County whole (connected to Gladwin). Keep the Tittabawassee watershed communities of Midland, Gladwin, Isabella, and Clare counties together.

The different communities shown in the separate halves of this map have hardly anything in common.

The communities included in this proposed map have nothing in common. They represent opposite ends of the entire Wayne County and the huge area of the Detroit Metro area. The upper right half and the lower left half of this map should be divided into separate districts, with the lower left communities connected to the 'Downriver' cities which have so much in common. Any elected official would have a very difficult time representing the constituents that would be included in this entire map. Please look at the more natural division of communities, as are shown in the blue 'Birch' map, which joins Wyandotte, Allen Park and Southgate to the rest of the Downriver communities.

Do NOT like chestnut

I attended both the Midland and Flint meetings. I believe it was made clear in those meetings the stark differences between Midland and Flint. We have nothing in common. Do not split up Midland County.

Fracturing Midland and sending half of the district to Flint makes no sense. Midland has nothing in common with Flint that meets any of the districting criteria given to the commissioners.

This map does not focus on the peoples needs in Midland and Gladwin counties. These counties should remain together.

dislike this map! horrible way to draw lines

strongly oppose this map

This map IS NOT keeping 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.

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

Terrible option

No. A slice & dice of Midland County as in the Chestnut map (and other maps similarly splitting Midland from alignment with Clare & Gladwin) distorts representation of residents. With a century plus of family linkage & residencies & interface in both Midland & Gladwin, there is no support distorting local national representation as shown by the Chesnut map.

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

This map does not represent the community of interest for Midland. The City and County need to remain together.

This map has too much gerrymandering that splits of similar geographic regions and combines others that have little in common.

This map does not connect areas of interest and appears to intentionally chop the state up to satisfy some special interest.

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

As with other comments, this map splits up portions of Midland Co with portions of other counties which I do not support,

I do not support this map

wayne county cities should be grouped together not apart

No! This map is unacceptable to Midland and her people. Stop the Gerrymandering. The City of Midland and the townships of Midland County should always be together. The City of Midland is the county seat there is nothing about this that makes sense except the benefit of Gerrymandering to the democrats. The city and the townships MUST stay together.

I do not support this map. This map is the definition of “Gerrymandering” by adding a strange extension to split up Midland County. Please keep Midland County together.

Strongly opposed to the Chestnut map. The city of Midland must be connected to the Midland County and Midland County connected to Gladwin County as per the Lange map.

I DO NOT support this map! Keep Midland County together

Bad idea.

Midland County should not be divided.

not working for us in this district

Keep Midland City with midland County

The Downriver Community should stay together and have a representative knowledgeable about our shared issues. The Chestnut map fails to do this. The Birch map does a much better job.

This map is unacceptable

Midland county needs to stay whole.

Novi should be kept in a district with other neighboring communities in Oakland County as these are the communities with which it has the most shared interests.

We do not belong with Genesse county.

Puts Midland with Genesee county - there is no commonalities with those cities. Midland is more aligned with the northern towns as many workers in Midland reside there.

This is a terrible map, downriver communities need and want to be together not split apart as this is.

This comment and map portal vote is made on behalf of the 725 voices (and still growing) of ‘Gladwin-Midland United’. Since there are no collaborative map choices that reflect the needs of our community of interest, we support the Lange Congressional map; we do not support the Chestnut map; the Birch or the Apple maps. ‘Communities of Interest’ must be given higher weighting than ‘partisan fairness’, per the new constitutional amendment passed in 2018. Our Community of Interest requests that you keep the City of Midland connected to the county of Midland, and the entire county of Midland connected to Gladwin County.

I gathered signatures for this committee and I'm grateful for all involved and opinions gathered. This is a bad map because it separates most of Downriver, which should stay together for the sake of common interest. Thank you.

Poor map because we don't share any interest of some of the communities.

This is a very poor choice of options as it disconnects the city of Midland from Midland County and also fractures common interests of the watershed, especially in light of the 2020 flood.

Puts the city of Grand Rapids and most of its metropolitan region into a lakeshore congressional district – Grand Rapids is an urban community with different economic interests than those cities along the lakeshore.

I oppose this plan for a number of reasons but mainly because Grand Rapids and Muskegon metropolitan regions form two different communities of interest. There are major competing economic interests between Grand Rapids and Muskegon that will hurt these unique communities.

Dislike

Not a good map because it splits up Midland County.

Stop trying to tear Midland apart. We don't need anymore gerrymandering!

Please keep Gladwin and Midland counties together and with the west.

Please keep Midland with Gladwin County and the counties to the west.

Please keep Midland with counties to the west.

As other comments have listed I do not like splitting Midland County or combining it with communities such as Flint which have very few similarities.

This is the worst. Any one of the other maps are an improvement. NW lower peninsula of Michigan (Michigan Region 2) should not be broken up. Each of the other maps respect this community of interest better than this map.

If you like gerry mandaring, this is it

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.

It makes no sense to split Midland County.

I don't believe this map follows the spirit of fairness and was designed with gerrymandering in mind. It appears this map promotes special interest groups rather than communities of interest. Please do not use this map.

Terrible map. Midland County should not be divided. On top of that it is very partisan. Midland votes will always be overwhelmed by those from Flint and Saginaw.

No to this map that divides communities in Wayne and Oakland Counties.

This map does not represent the flood damaged areas of 2020 that are still recovering and restoring homes, businesses, multiple dams and bridges as well as two lakes and the Tittabawassee watershed and the importance of its combined management is crucial for the environment, recreation, public safety as well as having unified representation in Lansing and D.C., which will give these counties the support for their area's needs.

dislike

As a resident of Midland county and the city of Midland, I'm so disappointed and frustrated by these efforts to group our representation with urban areas like Saginaw and Flint. We have completely different interests and needs than these areas. Say no to Chestnut - it's NOT a fair map.

Please do not split Midland county.

Splitting Midland County between two congressional districts makes no sense at all. If the Commission is serious about keeping communities together, it will reject this map as just another gerrymandering exercise.

Dividing Midland County makes no sense.

The congressional map fractures Midland County; half of the county goes to the Flint District. Keep Midland City connected to Midland County and Gladwin County. No Gerrymandering.

I don't like this map because it again divides downriver. Also, the district that I am in will extend all the way to Novi and all the way west to Washtenaw County. A congressional district with three counties included is not optimum. I would rather be grouped with Monroe County than this configuration.

Keep Midland City with Midland County

Keep Midland City with Midland County

This congressional map fractures Midland County; half of the county goes to the Flint District. Keep Midland County whole and connected to Gladwin. No Gerrymandering.

This is a bad map because it 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. It should be telling that all the comments approving this map care more about the fact that it does not favor Republicans (but favors Democrats) than about whether the communities at issue have anything in common.

Do not like. Midland County is fractured.

Please do not place Midland with Flint. There is very little in common with these communities.

This map makes no sense for Flint or Midland or the communities in between.

This is a bad map. Midland shouldn’t be combined with Flint.

This map is not fair.

Downriver/ Ann Arbor and Jackson County have no common ground. There will be no representation of Downriver or Jackson because AA will get all the attention. This is a big No. Worst Map yet

No, No No NO! This is the worst of the worst. Say no to Chestnut. Midland is an afterthought and will have no voice.

Midland does not belong with Flint!

So gerrymandered. Terrible map. Do not use.

Bad map since it combines GR and Muskegon areas.

This map is less competitive for people living in Macomb County. And that's unfortunate for the 3rd largest county and the 3rd and 4th largest cities in the state of Michigan.

Similar communities are divided in this map.

Midland county doesn't have much in common with the cities of Bridgeport, Birch Run, Flint and Fenton but we sure do with Gladwin county and areas west of Midland as 2020 flood disaster showed. Keep people with a common interest and shared regional needs. Political majorities can easily shift around but not the area natural resource issues. The flooding and Dam failure ramifications will be with us for several years.

This map is nuts. I don't want to be in a district with G.R., different city.

Not a chance! Chestnut map should be roasting on an open fire....

This map is bad for the southernmost counties of the state. Berrien County on Lake Michigan has nothing in common with counties on the far eastern end of the state.

no

Vote NO on Chestnut. It divides Downriver. It splits Wyandotte, which is across from the North end Grosse Ile into another district. Wyandotte, Southgate should be included in this district.

This map divides the Downriver communities of interest in an unfair way. Southgate and Wyandotte should be included with Trenton and Grosse Ile.

This map is unacceptable. Muskegon does not belong with Grand Rapids . Two totally different cities.

Berrien County needs to be kept whole on any congressional map. Forcing the south county to find similar urban interests in Jackson and Monroe, which are 120-150 miles away and not be allowed to keep ties with the county seat in St. Joseph, which is a mere 25 miles away, is ridiculous.

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

Dislike

This map looks gerrymandered to create partisan advantages in districts 10 and 11. These districts are not competitive like in Birch. These are not fair districts.

This looks like a gerrymandered map to create partisan advantages in districts 10 and 11. Both the districts have a strong partisan lean. They are not fairly created. Birch is a better map.

No, just no.

While this map keeps Troy in one piece, it also gerrymanders other parts of the state to provide an unfair advantage to a single political party. A point many of the other comments drives home.

While this map keeps Troy together, it splits up Oakland County in a weird way.

This is obvious gerrymandering. Do not use.

This version continues to split up Midland county and the city of midland, and put Midland city in the same district with Flint and Saginaw. Midland city and county are more closely related to counties to the north and west.

This map is not nearly as equitable as Birch. As a Troy resident, I appreciate that it's kept Troy in Oakland County, but the rest of it just isn't right. There's a chunk of Oakland county that's been removed for no reason I can see.

While Troy is still in Oakland County (good), taking a chunk of Oakland County (Beverly Hills et al) out makes no sense.

This is a disastrous map. It will divide communities, townships and counties. This is a poor attempt and will not work towards holding communities together, but rather tear them apart. This would not represent me or others in my community. Please do not even consider this redistricting.

I think this map unfairly divides several communities in Wayne County, diluting the voting power of some BIPOC communities and strangely combines some urban and rural areas in ways that could hurt fair representation for both.

The birch map appears to be the fairest from a partisan fairness perspective. This appears to have some issues around COIs - birch is much better.

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

I do not support this map Midland city is vastly different then the likes of Bay, Saginaw and Flint cities. We should not be lumped in together with them just because we all our cities. Midland City needs to stay with Midland County.

I DO NOT SUPPORT THIS MAP! Of the 5 proposed congressional maps on this site, this is the only one that does not group my household with my school district (Chelsea). Also, the City of Chelsea is the center of our lives and represents our community of interest.

On every map I've looked at, the "Downriver" area is cut apart. On this one you have Wyandotte with Harper Woods, but everyone knows that Wyandotte, Southgate , Riverview, Trenton and Woodhaven are virtually all the same...... What happened to the mandate to recognize “communities of interest” — communities like the Downriver area? Also, on many maps county lines have been crossed....... What's that all about? Is someone trying to make "gerrymandering of boundaries" legal. I wouldn't vote for any of these

Removing Southfield, Lathrup Village, Franklin, Bingham Farms and Beverly Hills from Oakland County - as this map has done - severely decreases the likelihood that Oakland County will see Black or POC representatives. Oakland ranks 6th of 83 counties in Michigan when it comes to how many Black residents there are - more than 170,000. Southfield makes up more than 50,000 of those residents and strategically removing us is essentially a "whitewash" of Oakland County. When it comes to our daily lives - where we live, play, work, and learn - the Oakland County communities you've placed into district 12 have much more in common with Farmington Hills, Oak Park, Birmingham, and Bloomfield Township than with communities in Western Wayne. I personally live at 12 Mile and Northwestern Highway, a stone's throw from both Farmington Hills and Bloomfield Township. My final qualm is that we aren't likely to have a representative from Southfield or Oakland County at all. Our issues are similar to those of the communities surrounding us, but we've been carved out. I'm concerned that with Wayne County voters making up most of the electorate, some of our concerns may get drowned out/overlooked. The "Birch" map does a much better job of keeping Oakland County communities together.

dunhamlake.com Dunham Lake community dates back to the mid 1940s' The lake is split down the middle and on some level this community of interest should be made whole. Moreover the area around the lake identifies with the Hartland and Milford communities. These communities have nothing in common with the Michigan thumb a rural farming areal. The Dunham Lake community of interest should be included in district 9 (Lansing) or that area part of district 11 (Novi, Farmington, Bloomfield).

I am opposed to the proposed Chestnut map as it removes Southfield and a few other Oakland County cities from my 'community of interest' in Oakland County . I am a Jewish resident of Southfield. Virtually all of my 'community' is in Oakland County. The "Birch" proposed map provides for a better representation for the citizens of Oakland County.

I prefer this Birch V2's map to this one as it relates to the communities in Bingham Farms, Franklin, Beverly Hills and Lathrup Village. I believe these communities should be kept with other Oakland County communities where there is a better partisan balance rather than carved out to be included in a different district.

This map is so wrong I find a difficult starting place. For one, countries should not be split among districts. That is unfair not only to the political candidate but more importantly to the citizens. This map would lead to voter confusion, frustration and loss of voter rights when they just give up over confusion as to whom their representative is. Another issue is the size of the district. Surly you could find suitable population in a more condensed area. For example, two or three counties wide and two or three countries high. Go back to the drawing table and redo this idiotic juvenile attempt.

I prefer Birch

I don't really think this map is the best option for Macomb or the state at large. The partisan fairness of this map writ large is not what I envisioned when pushing for an Independent redistricting board

Midland & Gladwin counties need to be kept together. Including counties south of Midland county make little if no sense other than to remove our voice from state and federal affairs.

Not Preferred. I prefer Birch V2.

I thought districts were to be representative of the geographic areas and not cross county lines. Please go back and put more thought into these districts.

This map splits districts and is not fair.

This map splits districts and is not fair.

Not a fair map.

This map should not be considered. It is not fair and does not properly depict communities of interest

Surely this is not the most contiguous option.

I feel that this plan does not follow the constitutional requirement to be based on a Communities of Interest criteria and is gerrymandered based on partisan considerations in violation of the constitutional requirements and should be rejected.

I would rather see Berrien county as one vs two districts when voting..

Berrien has more in common with Kent than it does with Monroe. People tend to work and travel a lot more to the north and south than to the east--there's little over in that direction.

l like district 7 but the overall map is not fair

This plan is all mixed up in terms of representing West Michigan. Rather it looks like a plan to dilute that representation by crating a few Gerrymandered districts lacking communities of interest in our area. It splits both Ottawa County which has not been split in recent years and Kent County which has been split. That could deny a voice to those who settled Michigan moving east from the east shore of West Michigan. Both Ottawa and Kent Counties are among the top ten population counties in Michigan. They are not divided in the Apple and Lange plans. The diversity of Michigan and the goals of the commission would be advanced by rejecting this plan.

This map is grouping several communities of interest that should be separate. Grouping Lake Michigan shoreline communities with a big city like Grand Rapids will eliminate the voice of those smaller communities. Do not consider this map.

This map is not the best option for fair districts

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 make any sense for my community or anywhere else that I look at. Unfair in so many respects.

I prefer Birch and Szetela overall but this map does a good job of COI with contiguous regions mostly.

Novi's inclusion in the 6th district is absurd. Novi needs to be in a district that includes neighboring Oakland County communities. This map treats Novi as a leftover piece of geography randomly annexed by a district that shares no real communities of interest.

Battle Creek has much stronger ties with the rest of Calhoun County than Kalamazoo/the Lake Michigan coast. Calhoun County's weight is being chopped up and diluted in this map.

In my opinion, the Grand Rapids and Muskegon metropolitan regions form two different communities of interest. Therefore, I oppose the Chestnut plan. Grand Rapids has competing economic interests with Muskegon - both compete to attract businesses, airports compete for federal funding, and so on. Additionally, the northern suburbs of Grand Rapids should not be included with a congressional district drawn all the way to Midland County - this is too far away and would hurt constituents who need to access the congressional district office. The plan breaks three counties each into multiple congressional districts - constituents will be confused when they need to contact a congressional office.

This map makes no sense in my community or elsewhere I look at. Unfair in many respects.

I have same concern as another person , I believe Carlie . How does Southfield and Dearborn end up in same conversation? This makes no sense at at all I was a dispatcher in area for many years . Thank you for your time.

Gerrymandering 101. There is no reason to drag our district into Grand Rapids other than to drown out the voices from our rural area. Bad idea.

The Grand Rapids and Muskegon metropolitan regions form two different communities of interest

Allegan, VanBuren, and Barry Counties as suburbs of Grand Rapids? I don't think so. Country/City is the biggest divide in the US. Let us vote with like-minded people!

The Thumb is again lumped with Macomb County, which means their voice is our voice. Relative to Detroit, my voice is half of theirs. 700k to 300k - not fair

How is Wyandotte included with Detroit and not other Downriver communities where residence work together for the whole of the Downriver area. This divide our communities and will make it more difficult for us to get fair representation in Congress. Our Congress has routinely ignored Downriver in favor of Detroit for too long! This map will just continue to neglect the will of the Downriver people.

This map -- as well as all the others -- still looks quite gerrymandered. It's as if you're trying to create safe Democratic districts and safe Republican districts, instead of competitive districts. The whole point of voters approving establishment of the commission was to make the districts, at least overall, more fair. All the maps have a clear Republican tilt. A Democratic tilt wouldn't be fair either. A truly competitive map would help inspire candidates, whether incumbent or challenger, Democrat or Republican, to provide better ideas and better representation to their voters, not just their party. I'm sure this panel has worked hard, but every map I've seen is extremely disappointing. And I'm not just talking about the district in which I live; these maps need more work. They are clearly partisan.

This map is a complete 360 from what was proposed prior to the closed door meetings. What happened? The way these districts are divided here ensure unfair representation and seems to be by design. This is a complete joke.

Absolutely not this map. Birch is far better

This one looks better than the other two, but it still does not give the Tittabawassee watershed united representation. If you want to adopt a map that will pass the question, does this look like gerrymandering? This is your map, yet it disregards so many voices in an effort to redshift political party representation so it still sounds like gerrymandering.

NO to this map. I looked only at Kent County. I think it is best to work geographically, ignoring political party and cultural heritage, keeping the district as geographically cohesive as possible.

This map chops up Ottawa county and lumps too many far away cities with rural areas. What a mess, nothing in common! Of the last four, only the APPLE V2 works the for West Michigan.

Argentine Township should remain where it currently is today, our concerns are similar to those around us not in a different county.

This map diminishes the voice of West Michigan in Washington by forcing Muskegon and Grand Rapids into the same congressional district. This is clearly a partisan push to devalue the voices of West Michigan by pushing together two competing areas of interest. Lakeshore communities deserve their own, independent voice.

I think it would be challenging to change the district mapping around because it would be hard to know where to cut the line. What I mean is where would we be able to stop as to how far the new Canton/ Plymouth city can reach? What if we cut into a little bit of westland? How much is too much? We would also have to do a lot of changing such as changing certain building names. For example: The Canton Public Library as well as the Plymouth Public Library.

I like that the western townships - Northville, Plymouth, and Canton - are kept together. However, as a 30 year resident of this area, there is a closer alignment with Livonia and Westland than Ann Arbor. As this is for our "representative", someone who represents down river and Ann Arbor will not be able to represent our needs as well. We have lived with this in Wayne County with not being properly represented in the county, and this (and the other maps) will only continue this under-representation.

I like how the map keeps Plymouth and Canton in the same district. These 2 cities have a lot in common such as similar houses and schools. But, I do not like how the district is so large and some of the areas do not have much in common with each other. For example, Ann Arbor is a big city while Bridgewater is not.

I was born and raised in the city of Midland and believe it should not be seperated from the rest of Midland county.

This map dilutes the urban and communities of color in Niles and groups them largely with farming rural communities. The same is true for lakefront communities whose interests are similar to St Joe and communities along the north lakeshore. This give these communities little voice with the primarily rural farming interest along the southern border.

Midland County should not be separated.

This map does not take into account the need for Grosse Ile and Trenton to be with our closest communities of shared interest, especially Wyandotte and Southgate. We need to address the issues of waterfront protection and usage as a community.

It is extremely important that Wyandotte and Southgate are included with Trenton and Grosse Ile due to the issues we share in common, particularly the waterfront.

Southfield and Dearborn should NOT have the same representative

Protects the COI in Detroit

I think this district should be expanded to the Westland area. Places like Salem, which are more connected with the separated south Lyon schools are in the same district as us. Westland which is more connected to our district than Salem is is separated from us and has its own district.

Why isnt Troy with Sterling Heights? County lines do not matter! Please choose a map with Troy, Sterling Heights together. Apple V2 is the best map! Thank you for your hard work!

As an Asian, this map doesnt represent Asian voices in Troy. We should be with the Asian communities of Rochester Hills and Sterling Heights. Please do not choose this map. Choose map Apple v2. Thank you for listening to our voices.

I dont like this map because Troy, Rochester Hills share more COI than Royal Oak.

Please reconsider the line drawn between District 2 and District 7 right through the middle of Kalamo Township, Eaton County. As an election administrator, I would ask that you keep this township whole. Splitting it as currently drawn appears to cut through 3 of their 4 school districts. This results in the jurisdiction having 7 school splits/ballot styles versus the 4 they already have to deal with. Thank you for your consideration of the difficulties this would cause.

Where are Wyandotte and Southgate??? They are anintegral lpart of our

the Village of Milford is a more swingy town in a district that is extremely one-sided. We have few similarites in voting patterns to the thumb and more with a competitive congressional district with a mix of the Lansing area and Livingston County, or other parts of Oakland County. I like many of the competitive districts, but PLEASE at least keep the Village of Milford together if you absolutely can't move it into the competitive fairer-fight 7th congressional district. I don't mind the border being next to us, but the Village itself is a tight-knit community and the last thing we need is a split in the middle of Main Street. I like the map, but please do two things: Increase representation for non-white communities in Detroit (i've heard a lot of complaints), and don't divide up the precincts smaller populated villages and towns with a lot in common (like Milford Village) regardless of what district the village is in. Also thank you for making the maps more proportional and competitive!

We would like the entire Oakland Township to be included in the district 10 with Rochester and Rochester HIlls instead of district 9. A large majority of our township uses the Rochester Schools, the Rochester Hills Public Library and uses Rochester as our shopping area. The politics of these areas are conservative Republican but less extreme than the politics of those in Macomb, Lapeer, etc. Being included in district 9 means our vote may be completely lost in every election for the next 10 years. I appreciate your hard work and hope you'll consider this message.

Stop trying to tear apart Midland County. The gerrymandering going on is disgusting.

Our congressional district looks like a major gerrymander, that commission committed to doing away with. Voters voted for a commission to make fair regions representing communities of interest. This seems like dividing for partisan or simply to comply with numbers. Please be fair and hear our voices.

My husband and I would like our entire township to be in the same district as Rochester and Rochester Hills where our school district is and within Oakland County. We object to Chesnut, Birch and Szetela maps where we are grouped with Macomb county where politics is much more extreme than the politics of Rochester and Rochester Hills. Our vote will be completely lost in this district.

This map separates the Downriver Region into three parts and attaches parts, like Grosse Ile to Jackson county. No attention to COI's.

This is not COMPETITIVE. To me, this is not about getting certain areas to have representation that they agree with, but about making politicians FIGHT FOR YOUR VOTE and WORK FOR EVERYONE. Split Ann Arbor and put part of them with Livingston County, Jackson, Ingham, etc. and the other part with Lenewee, Monroe, etc. so that there's a near equal chance of either a Democrat or Republican winning. I don't really see this approach on ANY of your maps. Right now, there are districts clearly Republican and clearly Democrat, and that's not good for anyone.

The west coast of Michigan should be kept together as much as possible so one representative can have the complete picture of the needs of the area.

Secord Twp should be with the same grouping as Midland. They are tied together by many interests.

You cannot put a Midland County, which is still recovering with the help of the Four Lakes Task Force, in with Flint. These are not communities of interest.

Wyandotte and Southgate belong with Trenton, Grosse Ile and other downriver communities. We share a river, police and fire, and concerns that our congressperson has always addressed together.

Southgate and Wyandotte are part of the downriver community, Grosse Ile has nothing in common with the Western part of the proposed district. We want to be together with Wyandotte, Southgate and the rest of the downriver area.

The City of Midland belongs with the rest of Midland County. There is no justification for pulling it out other than gerrymandering. Keep the watershed of Midland and Gladwin counties whole and together.

I don't care for the way this map splits Oakland County between 6 different districts. The alternative plans, despite their other flaws, are better than Chestnut.

Midland County and Flint do not share the same issues. Please use some common sense which appears to be lacking.

This is absurd for the fifth district. Berrien and Van Buren counties are rapidly becoming outer suburbs of Chicago with few common interests to the east.

This has to be one of the worst maps I have seen as it relates to district 8. It completely ignores the dynamics and needs of the area, and isolates the Northern Region of Midland and pays no attention to the water issues being managed in Michigan, Gladwin and Flint.

Once again Muskegon is swallowed up by Grand Rapids influence ignoring the needs and resources of the lakeshore.

Midland County needs different representation than Flint. They are vastly different communities and do not belong in the same district. I see this as an outright attempt to diminish the voting power of Independents and Republicans by lumping them in with a larger Democratic community.

Western Washtenaw and Eastern Jackson county should not be lumped in with Ann Arbor and eastern Washtenaw county. These are communities of interest that do not support the policies of eastern Washtenaw county and belong in district 5 or 7

Western Washtenaw county townships of Sylvan and Lyndon should not be lumped in with Ann Arbor and eastern Washtenaw county. These are communities of interest that do not support the policies of eastern Washtenaw county and belong in district 5 or 7, otherwise their representation will ignore the needs of the voters in these townships.

This is a terrible map. It artificially cuts up the county of Midland from it's watershed neighbors. There is nothing more important to the county of Midland than having representation that is focused on this multi million dollar, multi year project just for the reconstruction. Then ongoing maintenance will be paramount. You can't have one representative on part of the watershed and another on the other end. Their efforts will be diluted and conflict and the watershed partners will be the ones who suffer after they have already suffered enough. Put the watershed back together!!!!!

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.

Midland County should not be split in half and added to Saginaw and Bay. They need different representation.

This is pretty obvious gerrymander. There is no reason to stretch a district from GR to include other urban areas except partisan cracking.

Although you will not please everyone, moving South Lyon to such a conservative and large district will be harmful to the balance of the South Lyon community. We shop and vote in South Lyon. We worship in South Lyon. Why move us?

Wyandotte and Southgate are very important part of the downriver community of interest. They should be included with Trenton, GRosse ile, etc. Wyandotte shares waterfront issues with all the communities to the south, not the north, and should be included in the district below.

Salem Township should be associated with Lyon Twp and South Lyon, as opposed to Ann Arbor, Plymouth and Northville. The majority of Salem Twp is South Lyon Schools. Most residents of the township would consider themselves part of the South Lyon area (especially since most have a South Lyon address). They go to South Lyon/Lyon Township for shopping, dining, church, etc.

Not a good one that protects our community of interest.

Sad

I keep seeing comments from citizens from Flint, Saginaw, and Bay City stating that they think this map is the most fair and that they believe that Midland should be included in with Flint. This could be no further from the truth. Flint has a population of 100K and Midland 40K. Flint has a totally different COI than Midland. They have issues that need representation totally different than Midland. They need drinking water fixed, while we need the ongoing 10 year project of dam, infrastructure, home and business property damage and repair which is ongoing and is in need of massive funding. The Detroit News just had an article that shows the COI of Midland and Gladwin on the flood of 2020 and funding that was just given. We are no where near the total that will be needed. Similarly Flint with their drinking water issue. We honestly have nothing in common with Flint other than both cities are located in Michigan. We do have much in common with Gladwin County and Midland County. So why would you split us apart. Especially from Midland County. Just not right.

This seems like the sort of needlessly meandering district boundary that we want to avoid. Novi and Northville are pretty distinct socio-economically, and it makes more sense to group Novi with other Oakland County communities than to try to make it an extension of Northville, which seems to be the logic of this map.

This is the worst map of them all, it separates multiple communities and does not follow any natural boundary's. I support the Apple map for our communities.

Apple V2 is the best map. Rochester Hills and Troy share COI together. Many Asians live here. Many people who live Rochester Hills also work in Troy and vice versa.

I do not support the Chestnut Map; I support the Birch Map for Grand Rapids/Kent County. Chestnut combines urban areas at the expense of outlying connected suburban and rural areas; Kent County is its own Community of Interest. Apple makes no sense.

Please listen to the residents of Midland County. Please keep us whole so that we are included with counties that share like issues (Gladwin, Beaverton, Sanford)

This is not a natural community of interest. This map cuts through Ottawa County which is vastly different than the cities of Grand Rapids and Muskegon it attempts to connect. Ottawa County in this area is heavily agricultural communities where culture, concerns, and economies are vastly different. This also takes the lakeshore communities of Muskegon and grand Haven and rips them out of the lakeshore and places them with the Grand Rapids metropolitan area. These communities have significantly different interests and needs. This to me looks like an attempt to partisan gerrymander a congressional seat in favor of one specific political party. The commission should not do this.

District 6 in the Chestnut Map is the "least worst" of the three Dsitrict 6 maps, but only because it stops at the Jackson County line. This proposed district on all three maps seems to be only an afterthought made up of "what was left over," not taking any communities of interest into account. Please do better. Put Livonia back with the rest of Western Wayne County, keep Detroit whole, and then try again.

In whose world does this make sense. Again not keeping communities together. An obvious attempt at partisanship, diluting concerned voices.

I am opposed to this proposal. It hurts Ottawa County.

I am not at all in favor of this districting proposal. It groups me with a large area that I have much less in common with, than I do with neighbors that are arbitrarily placed in a different district.

This is a PARTISAN DEMOCRAT GERRYMANDER! Chestnut DOES NOT MAKE SENSE! Gerrymandering a district from Holland to Kalamazoo/Battle Creek and forcing Grand Rapids and Muskegon together is an intentional and deliberate attempt to gerrymander a Democrat district out of predominantly conservative West Michigan. This goes against the purpose of the redistricting to create fair maps. This is an UNFAIR and politically GERRYMANDERED MAP.

I think it is interesting that we see comments that like this map because it keeps Midland with the tricities,... but yet they state that they like the fact that it keeps most of the other counties whole. If that is the case that is a perfect reason to keep Midland and Midland County whole for #2 geographic contiguity; for #3 in COI Midland has so much more in common with Midland County than Flint. Kids from Midland attend Midland Public Schools; as well the hospitals within the umbrella of MidMichigan Health are located in Clare ,Gladwin, and Alma (Gratiot county). and lastly #6 states that cities and their counties adjacent should not be split up. WOW that is 2 out of the top 3, as well as #6. HUH, maybe a map should be put together to represent that. Great idea for the commissioners. Why no map for us.

This map doesn't serve the COI

I would encourage everyone to read the Detroit News article from Nov. 1 article that discusses yet more proog that Midland and Gladwin should be kept together. It is somewhat scary to me that even the democrats in our area want Midland and Gladwin's voice cut off to the point that they are willing to let their fellow residents not get the financial help that ids needed. They are willing to sell out their neighbors so that our vote can be diluted by adding us to Flint. It would be interesting to see If they were that bold that they would take out a page in the Midland Daily News and state this in a more public forum : ‘Feds award Midland, Gladwin region $54M to aid in flood recovery, mitigation’. https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2021/11/01/midland-gladwin-region-awarded-54-m-aid-flood-recovery-mitigation/6231480001/. Again per the top seven categories that the commission is supposed to be using we have #2 geographic contiguity (ps. Look at a map and you will see the City of Midland, Midland County and Gladwin County are neighbors, not Flint); #3 Community of Interest as we have the "realistically over 10 years" to see total recovery from the dams and damage; and #6 maps shall reflect consideration of city and county boundaries (ps. Midland and Midland County are right next to each other). Again, the only reason to put us in Flint is to take away and dilute our voice. Time to take us into consideration as has been done for the democrats in Detroit and other areas. We had a good map once in the beginning, then it got taken off and disappeared.

This map overall is bad. It's essentially a 6-6 map with one swing district. For the most part, no incumbent office holder will have to work for his/her selection. So much easier to draw a map that has 3 safe D seats 3 safe R seats and 4 highly competitive seats. Your other maps are better.

I agree with similar comments, this map unnecessarily divides counties. While I am personally ok with the split in Muskegon County; the splits in Kent and Ottawa make no sense to me. And I think this will lead to GR area having an unbalanced representation. To me it makes the most sense to start with the largest counties and add to them to have focused representation. Geographically the Barry County to the northwest approach is absurd.

The chestnut map is badly gerrymandered- GR with Muskegon? Of the three maps, the birch map is best of the ugly pigs.

This map is bad and not int the best interest of the citizens of Ottawa County! This map is nothing more then Partisan Democrat gerrymandering!!

The Chestnut map makes no sense. Drawing a district from Holland to Kalamazoo/Battle Creek and forcing Grand Rapids and Muskegon together is an intentional and deliberate attempt to create a Democrat district out of predominantly conservative West Michigan. This goes against the purpose of the redistricting to create fair maps. This is an unfair and politically driven map.

Chestnut Map Does NOT Make Sense! This map goes against the purpose of redistricting to create fair maps. This is an UNFAIR and politically GERRYMANDERED MAP.

Totally against Chestnut Congressional map. It removes my tiny SE area from Oakland county and District 11 to a rural district that encompasses 3 other counties. South Lyon is the fastest growing community in Oakland county. Nothing in common with this Congressional district. Don’t move us from Oakland county and district 11.

Chestnut Map Does NOT Make Sense! Gerrymandering a district from Holland to Kalamazoo/Battle Creek and forcing Grand Rapids and Muskegon together is an intentional and deliberate attempt to create a Democrat district out of predominantly conservative West Michigan. This map goes against the purpose of redistricting to create fair maps. This is an UNFAIR and politically GERRYMANDERED MAP.

Not a good map for Ottawa county.

Similar to Birch v2 this map puts areas of western Oakland County into a spot with the thumb that seeks only to jam a fairly 50/50 area into an extreme GOP district. There is little in the way of shared resources, shared need, or shared anything much for these areas. Its an invitation to basically shut out this area from having a voice.

District 9 is ridiculous. It is nothing more than packing a district with Republican votes. The various communities shoved into this district have little in common and would not have adequate representation for A DECADE under this map. Stop with the political gerrymandering and do your job!

This map seems to be politically motivated. Putting Grand Rapids and Muskegon together doesn't make sense from any other perspective.

Worst map of all, classic example of Gerrymandering. It totally carves out democrat Muskegon to move GR to the Dem side.

This map seems fairer to Kent and Kalamazoo counties but not so much to our neighboring lakeshore communities. To needlessly divide counties that may have unique needs or cooperation programs is puzzling.

This does not make sense to break up Ottawa county

Absolutely corrupt!

Chestnut DOES NOT MAKE SENSE! Gerrymandering a district from Holland to Kalamazoo/Battle Creek and forcing Grand Rapids and Muskegon together is an intentional and deliberate attempt to gerrymander a Democrat district out of predominantly conservative West Michigan. This goes against the purpose of the redistricting to create fair maps. This is an UNFAIR and politically GERRYMANDERED MAP.

This chestnut map does not make sense at all!!! Gerymandering a district from Holland to Kalamazoo/Battle Creek and forcing Grand Rapids and Muskegon together is an intentional and deliberate attempt to gerrymander a Democrat district out of predominantly conservative west Michigan. This goes against the purpose of the redistricting to create fair maps. Not Fair.

NO to Chestnut map. Stay with AppleV2 map as it will respect the current county and municipal lines best so that our voices can be heard in Washington, D.C.

How does this Chestnut map create community UNITEDNESS?? ...it doesn''t! This Chestnut map is bad for the citizens in Ottawa county and divides the west MI voices in obscure ways. Redistricting should occur with the intent strengthening communities INSTEAD of dividing communities to achieve political bias. We taxpayers have chosen to live in areas that fulfill our personal values. This Chestnut map ONLY seeks to DIVIDE so that business voices, personal conservative voices and tax dollars can be re-distributed INSTEAD of allowing TRUE values to remain expressed. This Chestnut map is the worst of the three maps [Apple V2; Birch V2 and Chestnut]. Stay with AppleV2 map as it will respect the current county and municipal lines so that our voices can be heard in Washington, D.C.

This is a partisan gerrymandered district map. When the commission was formed this map is what the commission was designed to avoid. I cannot see why this map should be approved at all.

Putting Flint in with the Tri Cities district is absolutely ludicrous. This action is nothing more that politcal gerrymandering in the worst possible sense. Flint would negate Midland's voice in elections.

Southern Oakland County Corridor should not be broken into 4 districts. Novi is packed with Brownstown instead of neighboring Farmington? Beverly Hills and Franklin get packed with Inkster and Dearborn instead of Birmingham and Farmington Hills? Driving 696/96 across Southern Oakland County would start you in the 11th, into the 10th for ~6 miles, back into the 11th, into the 6th for a couple miles, back into the 11th for a brief interval, and then finish in the 7th. So for this ~36 mile trip, you'd have to enter a new district 6 different times. Oakland County is split up amongst SIX different districts (of only 13 statewide!), yet the more populous Wayne County has only three. Why is Oakland County carved up so badly?

I oppose this map that aligns midland county with the southern counties. Midland city and midland county should be aligned with Gladwin, Isabella county . We have suffered a huge disaster a year ago that we are still recovering from. We need representation that understands our plight and will represent us a a group!!!

This is by far the worst map!! Taking a district from Holland to Kzoo/Battle creek & putting GR & Muskegon together looks like someone is trying to stack the deck against conservatives & Republicans. This is political gerrymandering & very unfair to us in Ottawa county. I thought the purpose of redistricting was to create fair maps not to make sure the Democratic party had the majority. Please please do not accept this map.

I do not like this map as it is a PARTISAN DEMOCRAT GERRYMANDER! Chestnut DOES NOT MAKE SENSE! Gerrymandering a district from Holland to Kalamazoo/Battle Creek and forcing Grand Rapids and Muskegon together is an intentional and deliberate attempt to gerrymander a Democrat district out of predominantly conservative West Michigan. This goes against the purpose of the redistricting to create fair maps. This is an UNFAIR and politically GERRYMANDERED MAP.

Horrible! The worst of all in this elite scam to redistrict the state in order to manipulate - the usual. Counties should not be split up - ever!!!

This map is such a hatchet job! Gerrymandering to the worst degree!

Are you guys serious? Quit playing game. Georgetown township with Kalamazoo? Allendale with Grand Rapids? Stop splitting up Ottawa County. GERRYMANDERING at the max here! Do what is right by the constitution!

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.

You completely ignored me. I spent so much time asking you to please keep me separated from Kalamazoo. I have never been involved in politics or an activist, but this is so important to me. I spent hours, days, weeks showing people how to create a map and showcase their communities. I did these in one on one sessions. I drove people to far away locations so we could speak in public. I was terrified to walk up to that mic, but I knew that I needed to. I was starting to feel a little proud of myself when I saw that over 200 maps had been submitted asking for the same thing. I was relieved when I thought that the Commissioners were granting me this very small request. 200 people probably isn't a lot compared to the thousands of submissions from all these Democratic Organizations that can put out a call to action with a simple keyboard swipe.. I spent several years as a young child in Kalamazoo. It is a city that I wouldn't send my worst enemy to live in. I avoid going there. Battle Creek is not the same. I went to Lowe's one day in Kalamazoo. Most of the merchandise was locked down, 9r behind grates, saw blades were removed. I couldn't pick up a hammer to feel its weight. Lowes in Battle Creek is not like that. It's a much more welcoming experience and I can try something before I buy it. Kalamazoo and Battle Creek have been separated for a very long time and the people were just fine. Andy Helmboldt is pushing you to do this because he's tired of being defeated. The only reason anyone possibly wants this is to take away any chance we have for a competitive area and for Representation. I just started trying to work with my Legislators towards improving the quality of life our Veterans receive. I was injured from a mortar leaving me confined to a wheelchair for a very long time. I'm trying to use my experience with the military and the VA to help others. If you take away my voice, I don't know what to do. I can't stop crying over this. I can't compete with these large organizations or politicians trying to control this. I guess I should have listened to everyone who told me I was wasting my time. This is why people don't get involved, because it doesn't do a bit of good.

Totally gerrymandered! Muskegon is chopped up in an obviously partisan attempt to benefit Democrats in Grand Rapids. Muskegon County is a lakeshore community of interest and our concerns will be totally overshadowed grouping us with a massive inland city like GR who greatly outnumber us and have very different concerns. Please REJECT this unfair map.

Each of these proposed maps chestnut, birch, apple separates an L shaped bite from my own Community of Interest, which is Western Wayne county and removes my own suburban city of 100,000 from that COI and into an urban district, with urban needs.

Please add Wyandotte and Southgate to this map. They are downriver cities described in our communities of interest and are in every other proposed congressional map for that reasons. The far western cities on this map would likely prefer being in a district with more rural concerns.

Wyandotte and Southgate should be included with Grosse Ile, Trenton, Riverview, etc. as a COI that share waterfront concerns, a superfund clean up, the clean up of the abandoned McLouth Steel plant (EPA) shared police and fire services (through a federally funded program), DRANO, hospitals, and bridge and train issues all that should be addressed together as a community of interest. Downriver should be kept together as much as possible. Thank you. If you need to move people out, the communities to the far west would probably prefer not to be in with downriver.

This is by far the worst map!! Taking a district from Holland to Kzoo/Battle creek & putting GR & Muskegon together looks like someone is trying to stack the deck against conservatives & Republicans. This is political gerrymandering & very unfair to us in Ottawa county. I thought the purpose of redistricting was to create fair maps not to make sure the Democratic party had the majority. Please please do not accept this map.

This is by far the worst map!! Taking a district from Holland to Kzoo/Battle creek & putting GR & Muskegon together looks like someone is trying to stack the deck against conservatives & Republicans. This is political gerrymandering & very unfair to us in Ottawa county. I thought the purpose of redistricting was to create fair maps not to make sure the Democratic party had the majority. Please please do not accept this map.

Midland county and Gladwin county should be kept together as a whole and intact so that the collective need of all communities of interest who suffered great losses during the 2020 floods will bet met in any future decisions.

This looks like gerrymandering to some :(

Map splits the Fitzgerald/Marygrove neighborhood (part of Detroit District 2). Boundaries are Lodge, McNichols, Livernois, and Fenkell. This is a very vibrant community, especially since the advent of the Marygrove Conservancy. PLease keep Fitzgerald/Marygrove together.

This map does not allow Midland to stay with Gladwin and it's surrounding areas with common interests. This is a partisan map designed to water down Midlands vote and should not be allowed by a nonpartisan commission.

Midland and Gladwin Counties have just been awarded federal funds for flood recovery and restoration. Apparently the federal government understands how these two counties are linked. Yet somehow the redistricting committee has overlooked the common interest between these two counties. PLEASE rethink this.

This is a terrible map and the worst of all three. Does not represent and only divides. do not use please!!

This is a terrible map. Do not use this. Ottawa county must stay whole, don’t split Ottawa county please

This proposed map is awful. It may actually be malicious. It completely ignores and even tramples on the principles behind the formation of the redistricting commission. It ignores real communities of interest and the supposed imperative that redistricting should be following - ensuring that the voices of those communities are collected together and heard in the political arena. Treating bits and pieces of Ottawa County as mere political appendages to other areas of Michigan is a blatant attempt to silence the communities of interest here on the Lakeshore. It breaks up Ottawa County into three parts. It treats one of those parts as a suburb or Grand Rapids (along with Muskegon). It is NOT a suburb of a growing urban area. It is part of an existing and real community. It treats another part as the outskirts of Kalamazoo. Kalamazoo is a great place - but its interests do not focus on the Lakeshore; ours do. And it treats another portion of Ottawa County as a mere and tiny appendage to a district dominated by those in the eastern part of our great state. Ottawa County's and the Lakeshore's REAL communities of interest need to be protected, not drawn and quartered like this map does. UGH!!!

This is a terrible map. Chestnut map does not make sense. it is a deliberate attempt to gerrymander a district from Holland to Kalamazoo/Battle creek and forcing Grand Rapids and Muskegon together is an intentional and deliberate attempt to gerrymander a democrat district out of a predominantly conservative West Michigan. this is not a fair map

Chestnut is a bad map. Grand Haven, Grand Rapids, and Muskegon should not be linked together. This is obvious political Gerrymandering.

The proposed Chestnut is the worst map under consideration. It is obviously a highly partisan Democrat attempt to dilute by gerrymandering away the votes of traditionally conservative Ottawa County. Chestnut makes no sense except as a blatant attempt to siphon away the value of Ottawa County votes. Gerrymandering a district from Holland to Kalamazoo/Battle Creek and forcing Grand Rapids and Muskegon together is an intentional and deliberate attempt to gerrymander a Democrat district out of predominantly conservative West Michigan. The Chestnut map goes against the basic purpose of the redistricting to create fair maps. Chestnut is an unfair and politically gerrymandered map obviously designed to solely benefit the Democrat party. It is designed to stifle and to nullify, gag and stifle the voices of Ottawa County voters.

The Chestnut map is straight up political gerrymandering to make predominantly conservative areas into Democrat districts. Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo will dominate. This goes against the purpose of redistricting into fair maps.

Midland and Gladwin must stay together in any version of mapping. The City of Midland is vastly different than Flint for a variety of reasons the main one being the watershed that Midland is a part of.

This is the first citizen redistricting commission and it was hoped that you would set an important precedent of keeping similar communities together so that Michigan could have fair representation. Sadly, you have consistently ignored communities of interest data and have focused on gerrymandering districts for partisan reasons. Arenac and Bay counties could not be better examples of different communities who are strongly connected. They constitute a strong community of interest. But you consistently have kept us separate so that you can try to carve out Republican areas such as Midland and stretch them down to Flint in order to ensure a Democrat keeps his seat. You are failing the purpose of what this commission was supposed to be.

This map is an absolutely awful representation of districts

Midland and Gladwin counties should stay together in any version of the Congressional and State Senate maps.

Please Commissioners: Midland and Gladwin counties should stay together in any version of the congressional and State Senate maps. There are at least 3 major reasons: I can see the dam repair and flood reduction efforts will be diminished if the City of Midland is fractured from Midland County and if Gladwin and Midland counties are NOT together; 2) The gerrymandering contemplated lines would cut off Mid-Michigan Health’s main campus in Midland from the rest of the service territory which runs north and west through Gladwin, Gratiot, Clare and Isabella counties and 3) Environmental benefits of flood reduction-reducing soil sediment and fertilizer runoff into the Saginaw Bay Watershed-would be jeopardized if Gladwin and Midland are split/separated. I also thought one of the guidelines for map lines should have approx 95,000 citizens in each district. Combining Midland with Flint greatly exceeds this. So far if I have to support a map, I support "Oak" Statehouse map. This is a map that keeps Midland County whole.

Terrible, splits Ottawa count and the lakeshore. Slap in the face to citizens of Ottawa county.

The City of Midland should not be in the same Congressional district as Flint. As someone who has lived and worked in both communities, these are two completely different communities with different interests. Midland County should be kept together.

Please, Commissioners: The City of Midland and Flint should not be in the same Congressional district. Anyone who lives in this area can tell you, these communities share little in common and deserve separate representation! My parents-in-law live in Genesee County and we drive almost an hour to visit them. It's a completely different community. Not one 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. Please, we are begging you - 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. I personally voted for this MIRC commission a few years ago and you are making me regret my decision. Please listen to the voices of Independents and Republicans who want fair representation!

You are gerrymandering for Democrats under the guise of partisan fairness.

This map continues to dismiss the comments from Midland community members that verify our Community of Interest is more aligned with Gladwin. Even the Federal Government just awarded $54mm to the "Midland, Gladwin Region" for flood mitigation and recovery. We are one region and need our voices heard. The consistent rhetoric from political activists trying to gerrymander our county needs to be dismissed. Keep Midland and Gladwin whole.

Over half of our community voices have been completely dismissed – please give Midland a congressional district that puts Midland back together and in a separate district from Flint. Our communities are vastly different. Why is there no alternative map that provides this option for the public’s consideration? Read this Detroit News article to see a great example of how unified voices and representation helps our community: ‘Feds award Midland, Gladwin region $54M to aid in flood recovery, mitigation’. https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2021/11/01/midland-gladwin-region-awarded-54-m-aid-flood-recovery-mitigation/6231480001/. After you read it, then tell me that Midland and Gladwin are not a Community of Interest!

This makes no sense ! Novi belongs with its Oakland county community !

This map makes no sense for how West Michigan is divided. The awkward shape of trying to include Grand Rapids through Ottawa County and then carving out Muskegon all in one district is mind boggling. It could best be described as a clear attempt to gerrymander West Michigan. Furthermore, Ottawa county is further divided to be included with Kalamazoo and Battle Creek. Ottawa County is very different than Kalamazoo and Battle Creek and the residents of that county will lose their voice to those residents in the cities. This is a very clear attempt of Democrats trying to squash the voices of Republicans.

Southfield, Lathrup Village, Beverly Hills and Franklin should be kept with Oakland County, not cut out and put with Wayne County.

Breaks up Midland County and separates city of Midland from our watershed. Please respect the watershed community and keep Midland county whole and with Gladwin and Isabella Counties.

The only reason why I dislike this map is it doesnt include Troy in District 10.

There are far too many unnecessary county splits in this map, especially in western Michigan. Ottawa is chopped into 3 pieces for no good reason. Muskegon is absurdly put into the same district as much of Kent County. Those are two completely different metro areas. Kent plus part of Ottawa is enough for one district without having to draw awkward lines into Muskegon. The US Census Bureau recognizes Kent and Ottawa as being part of the same metro area while Muskegon is in its own metro area. Grand Rapids Community College is based in Kent County with some satellite classes held in Ottawa while Muskegon has its own separate Community College. Please revise this map to both reduce county breaks and improve communities of interest.

The birch map is better than this map. Grand Rapids and Muskegon have nothing in common. This map is as bad as the apple map which has Grand Rapids in a district with Kalamazoo.. The same people who were complaining that Grand Rapids is in a district with Battle Creek, which I agree it shouldn't have been in a district with Battle Creek, are just thrilled to have Grand Rapids in a district with Kalamazoo?

This map appears to be a deliberate attempt to compromise the character of West Michigan. Grand Rapids has nothing in common with Muskegon, Hudsonville has nothing in common with Battle Creek. Splitting Ottawa County in half is ridiculous given the interconnectedness of these lakeshore towns and villages and their commerce. This is a terrible map for the west side of the state.

I do not understand why the district lines for district 9 include this particular area, I live in this neighborhood and it is zoned into Rochester Community schools, yet the majority of my classmates are going to be zoned into a different district than I am while I am zoned into the thumb with people I have nothing in common with. I am asking that this neighborhood be zoned into the district that Rochester and Rochester Hills are in for the sake of continuity among constituents who all have common characteristics.

I agree with the other commenter. All of these maps include communities with very diverse needs, concerns & infrastructure. These districts will result in little to no support for most the communities from their rep. This is ridiculous.

How AWFUL to look at this! Can you imagine any candidate trying to address the needs and wants of the voters? This encompasses every type of life Michigan can offer. Great Lakes, farming, city life, populous and sparse. Put yourselves in this position!