There is a meeting of the Isabella County Redistricting Commission tonight at 5 p.m. in Room 225 of the County Building. This will be the first meeting at which the commission members will have had access to the software and the census data, and it will be interesting to see what they have been able to do with it.

The League of Women Voters filed a FOIA request with the County last Monday, and we now have the official rules under which the commission operates, and a CD containing all the redistricting data put out by the State of Michigan. However, we do not have the software to make it easy (easier) to use, as it is $1000. a copy, and the County brought only three copies for the use of the five commissioners. The amount of data is daunting, with 130 pages of directions and hundreds of data tables and a separate section with very detailed maps. Sarah and I have both looked at this data and it will take a very long time to sort it out and handle it manually without the software.

If you are able to attend this meeting you will be reinforcing our FOIA request and helping make the League known as an organization promoting openness and transparency in government. It could also be extremely interesting!