By Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


A Livingston County man has stepped down from the state’s first-ever Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission tasked with redrawing the boundaries of Michigan’s state and Congressional election districts.

59-year-old James Decker of Fowlerville was among 13 commissioners randomly selected to serve on the Commission after voters passed a constitutional amendment in 2018 that stripped the authority for redistricting from the state Legislature. Decker was not affiliated with either the Republican or Democratic Party. He submitted a letter of resignation to the Michigan Department of State over the weekend, explaining that due to changes in personal circumstances he did not believe he could give sufficient attention to the work of the Commission. His application is attached.

Per the Michigan Constitution, a random selection will take place on Wednesday at 10:30am to replace Decker. He will be replaced by another un-affiliated applicant from the remaining pool of 167 semifinalists that were drawn this summer. Rehmann LLC, the independent accounting firm that conducted the previous semi-finalist and commissioner drawings will perform the random selection using the same process and technology as the random selection of the 13 commissioners, which took place in August. The event will be livestreamed on Michigan Department of State social media accounts. For more information, visit the provided link.