The Michigan State Board of Canvassers last week denied ballot access to a constitutional amendment that would add steps to Michigan’s election law to ensure only U.S. citizens can vote.
The group that gathered and turned in the petition signatures say they will fight the decision in court, meaning state courts will likely decide whether or not the Americans for Citizen Voting Michigan ballot proposal will appear on the state’s November ballot.
The initiative would require Michigan voters to prove they are U.S. citizens from appearing on the November ballot. Democrats have blasted the proposal as voter suppression, arguing it’s already a law on the books.
The state canvassers wound up deadlocked last Monday, Aug. 24, in a meeting to determine whether signatures turned in by the amendment’s backers were legitimate. The board voted 2-2 on the question of whether the group turned in a sufficient number of valid signatures from registered voters to qualify for the ballot.
As it stands, the proposal won’t appear on the ballot, despite the group behind the ballot measure turned in 750,000 petition signatures.
Chair of Americans for Citizens Voting Paul Jacob pledged to file a lawsuit to overturn the board’s decision. Jacob and supporters of the measure pointed to the fact signatures were turned in 244 days before the deadline.
“We are going to go to every court we’ve got to go to,” Jacob told reporters after the meeting. “We’ll go to the Supreme Court of Michigan. We’ll go to the U.S. Supreme Court, wherever we have to go because this is a travesty of justice.”
The Nov. 3 ballot must be certified by Sept. 4, meaning the courts will need to act quickly. The makeup of the Michigan Supreme Court, which currently is comprised of just one Republican, won’t make it any easier for the group.
“It’s a sad state of affairs that the Board of State Canvassers can’t even determine exactly how many of the signatures in their supposedly random sampling were not valid,” said Republican Rep. Jay DeBoyer. “The number has changed multiple times. It was a few dozen short of the threshold. Then it was three short. Nobody seems to know for sure. It’s a very questionable process that erodes trust for many.”
The proposal if placed on the ballot and passed by voters, would make Michigan one of the most restrictive places to cast a ballot in the country.
New voters would have to prove their citizenship when registering, and so would existing voters state can’t independently verify it. The proposal would also remove the option for those without a valid photo ID to instead sign an affidavit verifying their identity under the penalty of perjury.
The proposal would implement a “hardship program” funded by the state to allow those who aren’t able to afford identification documents to get an ID for free.
Voting rights advocates have called the proposal an attempt to disenfranchise Black, low-income voters as well as women. Opponents have said it’s a Michigan version of the federal SAVE Act proposal backed by President Donald Trump and his allies. Detroit Branch NAACP President Wendell Anthony has been speaking in opposition to the measure, saying it could block eligible voters who don’t have passports or birth certificates.
The fight over election law and procedure have become a central talking point for Republican candidates who have mostly followed behind Trump’s false assertions that Democratic cities somehow rigged elections against him.
Out of the 5.6 million ballots cast across the state, six noncitizens were charged for casting a ballot in Michigan’s 2024 general election.
