LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Congressional Candidate Paul Junge has called for the resignation of Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson amidst complications regarding the Citizens Redistricting Commission.
“Secretary Benson oversaw the Redistricting Commission and is supposedly an elections expert, but the result under her watch was a violation of the Constitution that discriminated against African American voters and caused a 2022 election under illegal state legislative maps,” said Congressional Candidate Paul Junge in a statement.
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The Congressional Candidate for Michigan’s 8th District said that Sec. Benson failed in her role.
“Secretary Benson should resign because she dramatically failed the people of Michigan and African American voters more specifically,” Junge added.
He further explained that the “constitution, fair elections, and equal protections under law are fundamental to democracy.”
“Secretary of State Benson failed miserably, so she needs to resign and allow individuals who will follow the Constitution to lead,” he reiterated.
The 13 member Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission has shrunk by nearly a quarter as more members resigned this week, and have called a special meeting for Thursday.
Ahead of the Christmas holiday, federal judges Raymond Kethledge, Paul Maloney, and Janet Neff determined that the recently redrawn maps violated the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution, relying on incomplete data to set Black voting age percentages in the districts.
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“We enjoin the Secretary of State from holding further elections in these districts as they are currently drawn,” the opinion said. “And we will direct that the parties appear before this court in early January to discuss how to proceed with redrawing them.”
The group charged with redrawing the district boundaries for the various Michigan state and national offices lost another Republican, Douglas Clark, and Democrat, MC Rothhorn, who resigned Tuesday from the Commission. It was revealed that Clark, and former Democrat member Dustin Witjes were living out of state while still serving and receiving stipends for their presence on the commission
To help address the loss of commission members and potentially redrawing the lines after a federal court decision, the group may be assigned the aid of a special master according to the Detroit News.
A special master is generally a judge appointed individual meant to verify judicial orders are followed and serve in a limited capacity for the court.
On Wednesday Jan. 3 in the afternoon the Department of State will host a live streamed drawing of the three new members according to Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s office.
“New commissioners will be randomly selected from the remaining pool of semi-finalist applicants who affiliate with the same party as the departing commissioner,” Sec. Benson’s office said. “Of the 200 semi-finalists randomly selected in June 2020, there are 52 remaining who affiliate with the Democratic Party and 54 who affiliate with the Republican Party.”
The newly resigned commissioners’ resignation letters can be found here.
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