The new legislative districts recently approved by the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission are causing some concern for Berrien County Clerk Sharon Tyler. She was asked about the districts this week by the Berrien County Board of Commissioners. Tyler said Berrien County will be split into multiple districts.
“I am very concerned about the amount of splits that we are seeing and how it will affect the candidates, the voters, and the people in Michigan right now,” Tyler said.
And that could make the next election a problem.
“This will be a very expensive election for our local clerks. There will be a lot of ballot splits. We have now three state reps versus two, we have two state Senate versus one. I think this will be very confusing for the voter, and hopefully our election workers will be trained appropriately and understand they’re handing the right ballot out.”
Tyler said she just spoke with the Secretary of State’s office and learned there are two lawsuits against the new districts. She said that could delay their implementation. For the Michigan House, the new maps will have all the lakeshore communities in Berrien County in one long district that stretches up to Saugatuck. Voters to the east and south will be in another district that runs into Cass County. Voters in the Coloma-Watervliet area will be in another district that covers most of Van Buren County.
