Michigan Board of Canvassers Denies Place on Ballot for Proposed Election and Abortion Amendments

Steven KovacAugust 31, 2022

Two citizen-initiated petition drives to amend the Michigan Constitution failed to secure a place on this fall’s general election ballot due to textual deficiencies.

The decisions were made by the Board of State Canvassers (BSC) at a meeting held on Aug. 31.

One petition sought to make election practices that the Republican-controlled state legislature has tried repeatedly to reform or ban into constitutional mandates—things like the use of absentee ballot drop boxes and the funding of elections by private groups.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, has vetoed more than a dozen such election integrity reform bills, calling them “voter suppression.”

The other petition would make abortion a constitutional right in Michigan.

Whitmer has publicly vowed to “fight like hell” to keep abortion legal in Michigan in the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is seen at Beech Woods Recreation Center in Southfield, Mich., on Oct. 16, 2020. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Both petition drives obtained more than the requisite number of valid signatures to appear on the ballot.

Advocates for each proposal vowed to appeal the BSC decisions to the Michigan Supreme Court.

Ballot Proposal

A ballot proposal to amend the Michigan Constitution to mandate absentee ballot drop boxes in every community and allow the private funding of elections failed to obtain a place on the Nov. 8 general election ballot because of textual deficiencies.

In addition, the proposed amendment would allow people to vote on a regular ballot without a photo ID by signing an affidavit.

Critics fear the proposal would also open the way for convicted felons and jail inmates to vote.

The proposal called Promote the Vote, which is backed by left-wing political action committees and opposed by conservative groups, did not receive a majority vote for