Michigan Redistricting Project

In November 2018, the citizens of Michigan passed Proposal 2, which amended the Michigan Constitution to place congressional and state legislative redistricting in the hands of a new Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission (MICRC) composed of thirteen citizens. One of MICRC's highest priorities was to redraw the new district maps taking into account 'communities of interest,' or COIs. 

CLOSUP launched its Michigan Redistricting Project in the summer of 2019 to assist the State of Michigan and the MICRC with this new approach. The initial stages of the project identified potential concepts and definitions of COIs based on experience in Michigan and across the U.S., and best practices to consider. CLOSUP also assisted MDOS in planning for the launch of the MICRC, and in training the MICRC, and also conducted research to build a contact database of potential COIs in Michigan (although the list will never be complete: there is no definitive list of COIs in Michigan).

Evaluating Congressional Districts

Partisan Advantage Tracker

The IPPSR Partisan Advantage Tracker is a tool to evaluate congressional district maps drawn for the U.S. House of Representatives. The Tracker measures how much these maps favor one political party over another, in each state, and nationwide. The PAT was developed by Michigan State University Professor Jon X. Eguia, with assistance from CLOSUP Policy Analyst Henry Fleischman, a University of Michigan Goldwater Scholar.

See the PAT at IPPSR

Public engagement

Engaging with communities of interest

CLOSUP’s research about, and engagement with, Michigan’s communities of interest. Read reports, watch the experts, explore the data.

Read more