LANSING, Mich.- As required by the Michigan Constitution, the Michigan Department of State will hold a livestreamed random selection on Wednesday, Jan. 3 at 3:30 p.m. to replace three commissioners who resigned from the 13-member Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission. 

The Secretary of State’s office received Commissioner MC Rothhorn’s resignation on Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2023. Rothhorn affiliates with the Democratic Party. No formal action is required from the commission to accept the resignation.  

The Secretary of State’s office also received Commissioner Douglas Clark’s resignation on Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2023. Clark affiliates with the Republican Party. No formal action is required from the commission to accept the resignation.  

As previously reported, Commissioner Dustin Witjes resigned on Dec. 20, 2023. Witjes affiliates with the Democratic Party. The random selection on Jan. 3 will fill all three vacant seats on the Commission. 

The state constitution outlines the process of replacing commissioners. New commissioners will be randomly selected from the remaining pool of semi-finalist applicants who affiliate with the same party as the departing commissioner. 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 commission is comprised of four people who affiliate with the Republican Party, four people who affiliate with the Democratic Party, and five people who do not affiliate with either major political party. 

The Jan. 3 event will be livestreamed on Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission social media accounts. Rehmann LLC, which has conducted all previous random selections, will perform this random selection. Prior to today’s resignations, and Witjes resignation on Dec. 20, two commissioners previously resigned and random selections were held in September and October 2020 to fill those vacancies. 

For media inquiries about the MICRC please contact Executive Director of the Commission, Edward Woods, at [email protected]. 

For more information visit Michigan.gov/MICRC. 

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