UP Gazette

Three Upper Peninsula legislators expressed disappointment that not a single Upper Peninsula resident was chosen to serve on the Independent Citizens Redistricting Committee.

“This new process is supposed to be fair and independent, supposedly improving on the past -- but we fail to see how taking away representation and accountability from residents in the Upper Peninsula is fair,” Rep. Beau LaFave (R-Iron Mountain), Rep. Greg Markkanen (R-Hancock) and Sen. Ed McBroom (R-Waucedah Township) said in a joint statement, according to Michigan House Republicans. “The  closest representative we have is in Interlochen, more than 100 miles south of the Mackinac Bridge and six hours from Ironwood.”

In the past, the Michigan Legislature has ensured that at least four U.P. residents were included in the redistricting process.

The three legislators also expressed frustration that Democrats used two of their allotted strikes to remove two U.P. residents from the candidate pool.

“This is just the latest example of the Upper Peninsula getting the short end of the stick at the hands of downstate Democrats,” they said, according to Michigan House Republicans. “The U.P. may only have a small portion of the state’s population, but it makes up about 30 percent of the state’s land -- and no one is going to know this land better than a citizen of these communities. We deserve to have a voice in the drawing of our election districts. It’s quite demeaning that the rest of the state seems to think we’re good enough to serve as a tourist destination but not to have representation on the redistricting commission.”