WMU Home > WMU News

WMU News

WMU News on Twitter

Jocelyn Benson to discuss redistricting in Michigan

March 16, 2011

Share |

Photo of Jocelyn Benson.KALAMAZOO--Election law expert Jocelyn Benson will address "Redistricting in Michigan: Who Should Draw the Lines?" at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 24, in Putney Auditorium of the Fetzer Center at Western Michigan University. The event is open to the public free of charge.

As a result of population loss recorded in the 2010 census, Michigan will lose representation in Congress and will be redrawing the election map this year. Benson is organizing opportunities for Michigan citizens to express opinions on redistricting.

The Democratic candidate for Michigan Secretary of State in 2010, Benson is an associate professor specializing in election law at Wayne State University Law School. She has previously held positions with the Southern Poverty Law Center and NAACP Legal and Educational Defense Fund.

Benson created state and national election protection programs--placing trained legal observers at polling places--including the first national program during the 2004 presidential election. She is author of "State Secretaries of State: Guardians of the Democratic Process," published in 2010, for which she interviewed Republican and Democratic secretaries of state throughout the country on best practices of the office.

Benson earned her undergraduate degree from Wellesley College and a law degree from Harvard University. She also studied at Oxford University as a Marshall Scholar.

WMU's Institute for Government and Politics is sponsoring Benson's lecture. For more information, contact Dr. Susan Hoffmann at susan.hoffman@wmich.edu or (269) 387-5692.

Share |

Media contact: Thom Myers, (269) 387-8400, thom.myers@wmich.edu

WMU News
Office of University Relations
Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo MI 49008-5433 USA
(269) 387-8400
www.wmich.edu/news