Detroit Free Press: Michigan Supreme Court says let voters decide gerrymandering proposal

LANSING — A proposal to create a bipartisan commission to draw Michigan’s political lines — intended to stop political gerrymandering — will appear on the Nov. 6 ballot, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled late Tuesday.

The ruling was a major victory to the Voters Not Politicians group, which had gathered more than 400,000 signatures in an effort to put the proposal on the ballot. The proposal would shift the responsibility for drawing district lines from the party in control of the Legislature to a 13-member bipartisan commission. …

Kathay Feng, national redistricting director for Common Cause, which supports the ballot proposal, said, “This all-volunteer effort started so citizens could end a corrupt system in which self-interested politicians manipulate districts for political advantage behind closed doors. Now Michigan voters will have the opportunity to make their voices heard.”