APPORTIONMENT OF COUNTY BOARDS OF COMMISSIONERS (EXCERPT)
Act 261 of 1966
46.401 County apportionment commission; apportionment of county into county commissioner districts.
Sec. 1.
Within 60 days after the publication of the latest United States official decennial census figures, the county apportionment commission in each county of this state shall apportion the county into not less than 5 nor more than 35 county commissioner districts as nearly of equal population as is practicable and within the limitations of section 2. In counties under 75,000, upon the effective date of this act, the boards of commissioners of such counties shall have not to exceed 30 days into which to apportion their county into commissioner districts in accordance with the provisions of this act. If at the expiration of the time as set forth in this section a board of commissioners has not so apportioned itself, the county apportionment commission shall proceed to apportion the county under the provisions of this act
46.402 Number of county commissioners based on county population.
Sec. 2.
|
County Population |
Number of Commissioners |
|
|
|
|
Under 5,001 |
Not more than 7 |
|
5,001 to 10,000 |
Not more than 10 |
|
10,001 to 50,000 |
Not more than 15 |
|
50,001 to 600,000 |
Not more than 21 |
|
600,001 to 1,000,000 |
17 to 35 |
|
Over 1,000,000 |
25 to 35
|
46.403 County apportionment commission; membership; convening apportionment commission; adopting rules of procedure; quorum; action by majority vote; conducting business at public meeting; notice of meeting; availability of certain writings to public.
Sec. 3.
(1) The county apportionment commission shall consist of the county clerk, the county treasurer, the prosecuting attorney, and the statutory county chairperson of each of the 2 political parties receiving the greatest number of votes cast for the office of secretary of state in the last preceding general election. If a county does not have a statutory chairperson of a political party, the 2 additional members shall be a party representative from each of the 2 political parties receiving the greatest number of votes cast for the office of secretary of state in the last preceding general election and appointed by the chairperson of the state central committee for each of the political parties. The clerk shall convene the apportionment commission and they shall adopt their rules of procedure. Three members of the apportionment commission shall be a quorum sufficient to conduct its business. All action of the apportionment commission shall be by majority vote of the commission.
(2) The business which the apportionment commission may perform shall be conducted at a public meeting held in compliance with Act No. 267 of the Public Acts of 1976, being sections 15.261 to 15.275 of the Michigan Compiled Laws. Public notice of the time, date, and place of the meeting shall be given in the manner required by Act No. 267 of the Public Acts of 1976.
(3) A writing prepared, owned, used, in the possession of, or retained by the commission in the performance of an official function shall be made available to the public in compliance with Act No. 442 of the Public Acts of 1976, being sections 15.231 to 15.246 of the Michigan Compiled Laws.
History: 1966, Act 261, Eff. Mar. 10, 1967 ;-- Am. 1977, Act 185, Imd. Eff
46.404 County commissioner districts; guidelines for apportionment.
Sec. 4.
In apportioning the county into commissioner districts, the county apportionment commission shall be governed by the following guidelines in the stated order of importance:
(a) All districts shall be single-member districts and as nearly of equal population as is practicable. The latest official published figures of the United States official census shall be used in this determination, except that in cases requiring division of official census units to meet the population standard, an actual population count may be used to make such division. Other governmental census figures of total population may be used if taken subsequent to the last decennial United States census and the United States census figures are not adequate for the purposes of this act. The secretary of state shall furnish the latest official published figures to the county apportionment commissions forthwith upon this act taking effect, and within 15 days after publication of subsequent United States official census figures. A contract may be entered into with the United States census bureau to make any special census if the latest United States decennial census figures are not adequate.
(b) All districts shall be contiguous.
(c) All districts shall be as compact and of as nearly square shape as is practicable, depending on the geography of the county area involved.
(d) No township or part thereof shall be combined with any city or part thereof for a single district, unless such combination is needed to meet the population standard.
(e) Townships, villages and cities shall be divided only if necessary to meet the population standard.
(f) Precincts shall be divided only if necessary to meet the population standard.
(g) Residents of state institutions who cannot by law register in the county as electors shall be excluded from
from any consideration of representation.
(h) Districts shall not be drawn to effect partisan political advantage.
History: 1966, Act 261, Eff. Mar. 10, 1967 ;-- Am. 1969, Act 137, Eff. Mar. 20, 1970
46.405 Apportionment plan; filing by county apportionment commission; access.
Sec. 5.
The apportionment plan approved by the commission shall be filed in the office of the county clerk at which time it shall become effective, and copies of it shall be forthwith forwarded by the county clerk to the secretary of state for filing and shall be made available at cost to any registered voter of the county.
46.406 Apportionment plan; petition for review.
Sec. 6.
Any registered voter of the county within 30 days after the filing of the plan for his county may petition the court of appeals to review such plan to determine if the plan meets the requirements of the laws of this state. Any findings of the court of appeals may be appealed to the supreme court of the state as provided by law.
46.407 Apportionment plan; failure of apportionment commission to submit; submission by registered voter.
Sec. 7.
If the apportionment commission has failed to submit a plan for its county within 60 days but not less than 30 days after the latest official published census figures are available or within such additional time as may be granted by the court of appeals for good cause shown on petition from the apportionment commission, any registered voter of the county may submit a plan to the commission for approval. The commission shall choose from among those submitted to it a plan meeting the requirements of the laws of this state and file such plan in the office of the county clerk as set forth in section 5 within 30 days after the deadline for the filing of the commission's own plan or any extension granted thereon. |
