This column originally appeared in The Detroit News.

Two years ago, Michigan voters went to the polls and approved a constitutional amendment to change how our state handles redistricting. Gone now are the days when the legislature drew new district boundaries after every census.

Voters opted instead to give redistricting responsibility to a brand-new entity, something called an "Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission." A genuinely independent body would draw better lines every ten years, and lines absent of partisan interest — voters were told — if it were made up not of elected officeholders but everyday laypeople without a political party's dog in the fight.

Earlier this week, you spoke out, and Lansing heard you.

As lawmakers wrestled with their “lame duck” legislative agenda, we got word a major push was underway to resuscitate an obnoxious, tone deaf, and expensive tax dollar giveaway to some of the state’s biggest, best-connected corporations – and everyday taxpayers and small businesses would foot the bill.

It has come to our attention that Senate Bill 492 - which seeks to reinstate, extend, and increase the cost to Michigan taxpayers by another $300 million of the so-called “Good Jobs for Michigan” legislation - is being considered in the waning days of session.

This is an unacceptable and outrageous slap in the face to countless small business owners and their employees who have seen their livelihoods crushed by their government’s response to a global pandemic, which has been a tragic combination of incompetence, heavy-handed overreaction, and a pathetic inability to work together. 

Two years ago, Michigan voters went to the polls and approved a constitutional amendment to change the way our state handles redistricting.

Voters opted to give redistricting responsibility to something called an “Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission.” According to the rules voters agreed to, the commission would be led by Republicans, Democrats, and Independents, and it would be designed to function independently of partisan political interests.

The election is over. The results are in, and here in Michigan, they’re not going to change.

What should, though, is the way Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson handles worries, accusations, claims and sworn affidavits about mistakes, fraud and malfeasance during the vote counting process.

This column originally appeared in The Detroit News.

Donald Trump lost Michigan; we accept this.

Trump's loss and the swirl of controversy around it has handed Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson a unique opportunity, the no risk kind, and all upside with voters.

Will Benson seize this opportunity? To borrow an election night colloquialism, early returns don't look good.

Superheroes walk among us.

We had the occasion this week on Veterans’ Day to thank Michigan’s veterans of the United States Armed Forces, but a single day of gratitude has never been enough.

Polling is dead. 

Republicans’ House majority, on the other hand…

Four days until Election Day, and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson keeps the tally running.

No, not the tally of votes – those won’t be counted until Tuesday night.