In the Great Lakes region, residents are routinely subjected to partisan and polarizing political tactics; public leaders sometimes appear more interested in maintaining power than working collaboratively on behalf of the electorate. As a result, public frustration is mounting with what many see as government’s inability to act and solve problems.

One contributing factor to the fractured relationship between citizens and elected leaders is the closed process by which legislative and congressional districts are drawn—and more importantly, the political and policy results. Every ten years, after the census provides details about population shifts, legislative boundaries are redrawn. The current redistricting process largely excludes the public; the process makes it likely that legislators will be motivated to protect their own seats and maximize the advantage of the dominant party.

This year political reform advocates across the Great Lakes region are working on a multi-state strategy to shed more light on the redistricting process, making it more transparent and open to the public, while ensuring compliance with the Voting Rights Act.

Through the Midwest Democracy Network (MDN), a coalition of government reform organizations, advocates are working with a team of scholars, lawyers, policy analysts, and community groups to make redistricting more open and accountable in the Great Lakes region. Members of the Campaign for Accountable Redistricting (CAR) have already identified several potential strategies to drag the map-drawing procedure out of the shadows and into the public square.

For example, CAR members around the region are seeking to increase public engagement in the redistricting process. State reform leaders are reaching out to community organizations, influential citizens, and opinion makers—including those from local communities who have historically been under-represented or excluded altogether in redistricting practices. Reform groups are developing a variety of public involvement activities—town hall meetings, candidate forums, a speakers’ bureau, and social media—all meant to help citizens better understand the issue and its significance.

In addition to educating and informing people across the region, advocates are informing members of the news media about redistricting fundamentals, inherent inequities within current systems, as well as the range of potential reforms. With sponsorship from the McCormick Foundation, Joyce grantee Citizen Advocacy Center (CAC) has developed Reading between the Lines: Unraveling Illinois Redistricting, a boot camp for Illinois journalists and bloggers. CAC’s partners on this project include Community Media Workshop, Illinois Press Association, and the Midwest Democracy Network.

Groups like the League of Women Voters of Michigan will also closely monitor state redistricting practices—evaluating the performance of redistricting authorities, creating alternative standards for combating the status quo, and keeping stakeholders and media aware of important redistricting developments.

State groups are working to demystify the actual process of redistricting by inviting citizens and community leaders to try their own hand at drawing districts. In Ohio, the Ohio Citizen Action Education Fund and the League of Women Voters of Ohio Education Fund are training citizens and other groups to use map-drawing software to create more fair and representative districts. Later this year, advocates will launch a map-drawing contest to help demonstrate that Ohioans can be directly involved in creating inclusive, objective maps.

Finally, in states where legislatures control the redistricting process, reformers are championing the creation of citizen panels to monitor and critique the procedures. In Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign is part of a coalition that plans to form a geographically and politically diverse committee of ordinary voters as well as academic, legal, and political experts.

“Our elected leaders have essentially created safe havens for themselves, but we have the power to stop this overly-political and ultimately unfair process,” said Mike McCabe, executive director of Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. “Along with our allies in Wisconsin and around the region, we are working to implement sound and effective strategies that make our redistricting systems open and transparent.”

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