FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
News from Progress Michigan
August 23, 2021
Contact: Sam Inglot, 616-916-0574, sam@progressmichigan.org
Progress Michigan Submits FOIA Request to Redistricting Commission
Michiganders deserve fair, nonpartisan maps, which means ensuring the Commission is free from undue outside influence
MICHIGAN – On Monday, Progress Michigan submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to Michigan’s Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission, requesting all communications to or from the commissioners to non-commissioners and those who are not Commission staff or consultants.
“Before the Commission was created, our maps were drawn by lawmakers and special interests behind closed doors,” said Sam Inglot, deputy director of Progress Michigan. “Now, the public has full access to the process and records being used to draw our new district maps. With the Commission’s recent decision to hire a law firm with Republican ties and a history of defending gerrymandered maps, we are making full use of that transparency to ensure there is no improper outside pressure or undue influence put on the Commission or individual commissioners as they carry out their directive to draw fair, nonpartisan maps.”
The FOIA request language submitted to the MICRC is as follows:
On behalf of Progress Michigan and pursuant to Michigan Freedom of Information Act, M.C.L. § 15.231 et seq., I am requesting the following public records: all communications about redistricting matters between any of the commissioners and any other person who is not a commissioner, including but not limited to emails and text messages, from August 17, 2020 through the present date. The term “person” does not include the 1) Commission’s staff, lawyers, consultants, and vendors, 2) members of the immediate family of a commissioner, and 3) personnel of the Department of State. The term “communication” does not include communications which occurred at an open meeting of the commission or at a previously publicly noticed forum or town hall open to the general public.
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