The Headlines
As I mentioned in my first update of this month, after the turbulent end to last year’s session in the Michigan legislature, there are a number of bills we supported that did not make it into law. Late last week, we learned that several bills that were approved by both chambers of the legislature, and that would affect Voters Not Politicians work the next time we use Michigan’s ballot initiative process, were vetoed by Governor Whitmer.1
Here’s a brief explanation of what those bills were, and how this can affect VNP’s work in the future.
The Details
- The vetoed bills which would have updated Michigan’s petition process included House Bills 5571, 5572, 5573, 5575 and 5576. Of the full package, only HB 5574 was signed into law by Governor Whitmer.
- HB 5571 would have clarified that petitions must “substantially” follow the form called for in statute. Most importantly to VNP, it also would have eliminated the need for county-specific sheets, and would instead have included county as one of the fields each signer must fill out. Voters Not Politicians, along with the Department of State and organizational partners Promote the Vote and the Michigan League of Conservation Voters, supported this bill.
- The “strict” compliance standard that has been in effect for over a decade has enabled many frivolous and/or politically motivated challenges to citizens’ initiatives. It simply doesn’t make sense for an initiative to be rejected because of a font size or placement of a printer’s mark. What matters, of course, is that signers know what they are signing, that circulators attest to following the law, and that adequate information is collected to validate signatures.
- VNP also strongly supported eliminating county-specific sheets because they slow down signature collection, waste a huge amount of paper, and disenfranchise voters who either cannot sign (because the circulator does not have enough petition sheets to start a new one for them) or inadvertently sign on the wrong county sheet. Furthermore, there is no current reason for the county designation on statewide petitions. It’s a holdover from the days before the Qualified Voter File, when physical sheets had to be sent to county clerks to be verified. Now, signatures are validated against the voter file from a computer anywhere in the state.
- These positive reforms, which were proposed by all four members of the bipartisan Board of State Canvassers, were opposed by a group known as Pure Integrity for Michigan Elections, another example of the phrase “election integrity” being used to cloak anti-democratic intentions.
- HBs 5572 and 5573 would have codified the Bureau of Elections practice of using statistical random sampling methodology to establish sufficiency and validity of statewide initiative petitions.
- Voters Not Politicians supported codifying this process for initiative petitions. The practice, which is well-grounded in mathematics and is in use across almost every known field, has been used for statewide initiatives in Michigan for decades.
- VNP took no position on the use of random sampling for nominating petitions, which falls outside our scope.
- HB 5575 would strike out the previously passed 15% congressional district requirement for signatures that was struck down as unconstitutional and is not currently enforced. Voters Not Politicians supported this change to keep state law in line with our constitution.
- HB 5574 was the only bill in the package to be signed into law. This bill updates procedures for local clerks to be provided with the required materials for a statewide ballot question and modifies the process for designating those proposals for the ballot.
What’s Next
Overall, the Governor’s vetoes mean that any changes to the ballot initiative process will need to be revisited this cycle. We will be working with our partners to evaluate next steps.
Voters Not Politicians will continue working with the state and the legislature to support the petition reforms that will best serve the people of Michigan and protect our right to direct democracy.
1. Whitmer vetoed 13 bills passed last year by the Democratically-controlled Legislature (Detroit Free Press | January 18, 2025)
Want to receive these updates in your inbox? Use this link to join our weekly update list.
See our past Updates here.