Voters in Michigan will decide whether to amend the state constitution to include protections for abortion access this November following a contentious battle over including two petition-driven proposals on the ballot.
The Michigan Supreme Court voted Thursday evening 5-2 to order the inclusion of the measure on the ballot. It was certified by the state’s board of canvassers Friday morning.
The Michigan Supreme Court also directed the state’s board of canvassers, with a 5-2 vote, to certify a second petition-driven proposal on November’s ballot, titled Promote the Vote 2022, which they did Friday. It will ask voters whether to create a constitutional amendment that supports a number of voting and elections changes, including nine days of early in-person voting, requiring state-funded absentee-ballot drop boxes and postage for absentee applications and ballots, and stronger protections against voter intimidation. More than 660,000 people signed the petition in favor of adding this ballot measure.
The voting proposal, Promote the Vote 2022, was also tied up in the process, specifically because of the word abrogate and whether there would be more changes to Michigan’s constitution than listed.
Similar to the reproductive freedom proposal, the two Republicans on the Board of State Canvassers opposed certification.
The measure has “overwhelming support with the public,” said Nancy Wang, Executive Director of Voters Not Politicians, a grassroots voter-led, pro-democracy political reform organization.
Wang said that Voters Not Politicians 2022 had 5,000 volunteers who collected 170,000 of the 660,000 signatures supporting the proposal. “And what we heard on the street was always the same,” Wang said. “It’s always that voters really support this measure, regardless of whether Republicans or independents or Democrats. And all we want to do is protect our fundamental right to vote.”
This story was originally published by PBS Newshour. Read more here: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/voters-in-michigan-will-decide-whether-to-protect-abortion-this-november
