A proposed amendment to the Michigan Constitution that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote in the state has exhausted its options to get on the November ballot through the judicial system. Justices with the U.S. and Michigan supreme courts both decided against the measure Thursday.
The amendment would also require a voter to show photo ID either at the polls or within six days of an election have their ballot counted.
Last month, the Michigan Board of State Canvassers deadlocked on whether the Americans for Citizen Voting Michigan campaign turned in enough valid petition signatures to get the question before voters. The lack of a majority meant the amendment campaign could not move forward.
The campaign had appealed the decision to the Michigan Supreme Court, asking the court to place their question on the ballot. When a decision didn’t come by a requested deadline of this past Monday, the campaign asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the matter.
After reviewing briefs from both parties in the matter, conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who handles emergency filings from the region that includes Michigan, denied the request for an emergency injunction against the state canvassers decision Thursday.
The campaign said that went against the wishes of hundreds of thousands of Michiganders.
“We are deeply disappointed by today's decision, particularly for the nearly 710,000 Michigan citizens who put their names on this petition believing they would have an opportunity to vote on it," Americans for Citizen Voting spokesperson Kristin Combs said in a press release.
Whether nearly 710,000 Michigan citizens did, in fact, sign the petition is part of the dispute that was before the courts. A randomly selected 1,000-signature sample analyzed by non-partisan Bureau of Elections staff turned up hundreds that state Elections Bureau staff said did not meet the requirements to be counted toward the petition's total.
An order from Michigan Supreme Court ending the campaign's hopes of a legal win came hours after the U.S. Supreme Court declined the case.
The campaign needed 446,198 valid signatures to get on the ballot.
After processing signature challenges and rebuttals, Americans for Citizen Voting went into last week’s meeting of the Board of State Canvassers 17 short of the threshold.
When the campaign presented the elections board with 23 signed affidavits from the voters as an attempt to fix those signatures, the board accepted 14 more, leaving the campaign three shy of what it needed. For the others, board members either agreed signatures didn’t match voter records, or deadlocked on what to do.
Five of those deadlocks between the board’s two Democratic and two Republican members happened because the affidavits were filed within 48 hours of the meeting, missing a deadline imposed by the board. The canvassing board members generally agreed those signatures would have counted otherwise.
All seven Michigan Supreme Court justices upheld that 48-hour deadline.
In turning down Americans for Citizen Voting's request, the court found it didn’t have the power to tell the Board of State Canvassers what to do, since the board had discretion over the challenged process.
“MCL 168.476(1) does not mandate the Board to accept affidavits to rehabilitate rejected signatures, nor does it dictate the process of reviewing affidavits if the Board chooses to do so. Plaintiffs argue that this process was deficient, but they do not argue that they were denied the process to which MCL 168.476 entitles them,” Justice Elizabeth Welch wrote in a concurrence.
Only Justice Brian Zahra, the lone conservative on the court, argued the board should go back and revisit the four timely, but rejected, affidavits.
In a press release, Americans for Citizen Voting chair Paul Jacob shared his frustration with the cases.
"Nearly 710,000 Michiganders did exactly what their Constitution invited them to do: they signed a petition asking to put an issue before their fellow citizens," Jacob said.
"When the Board of State Canvassers failed them, we turned to the Michigan Supreme Court expecting our state's highest court to diligently protect the constitutional rights of Michigan voters. Instead, the Court failed to act with the urgency this case demanded and ultimately denied relief."
It appears ACV has now exhausted all avenues to get before voters this November. A statutory deadline to finalize the ballot is Friday at 5 p.m.
The Board of State Canvassers is meeting at 10 a.m. and isn’t likely to change its mind.
The campaign says its work isn’t over. It’s now turning its attention to 2028.
