2021 - Winner for Accessibility

Throughout 2021, the office of Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson provided support to the inaugural Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission to increase access and reduce barriers to public participation in the redistricting process. The office of the secretary funded and facilitated ASL interpretation, closed captioning, Zoom and livestream services, and language interpretation in Arabic, Spanish and Bengali for over 130 public meetings throughout 2021, taking place both remotely and in-person. Because of these critical services, communities across the state that had previously been precluded from participation in the line drawing process were able to actively engage and have a voice in the drawing of their voting district lines and representation for the first time ever.