PORT HURON, Mich. — In a country where Democrats and Republicans have spent the past year battling over allegations of election fraud and attempts at voter suppression, the earnest scene playing out in a conference room here last week almost didn't make sense.

The stakes were high. A commission charged with redrawing Michigan's political boundaries was preparing to make crucial decisions that could affect the future of the state — and even the nation.

Yet there was no heckling, no chanting, no catcalls.