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Business Groups Form “Vote No” Coalition

A month ahead of Michigan’s March presidential primary, there’s been a 70 percent increase in absentee ballot requests, after voters in the state passed no-reason absentee voting in 2018.
James Durkee
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Flickr Creative Commons

A coalition of business groups will urge voters to say “no” to every question that appears on the November ballot.

Rich Studley is with the Michigan Chamber of Commerce and a coalition leader. He says the ballot questions are constitutional amendments that deal with labor issues, energy policy, casinos, a Detroit border crossing, and taxation. There is also a proposed challenge to the state’s emergency manager law.

He says these are policy questions that should be dealt with by the Legislature, and tweaked by lawmakers when it becomes it becomes necessary. He says putting them into the state constitution would mean it would take another amendment- and another ballot campaign – to make changes.

"There’s a real concern about cementing some of these changes into the state constitution,” he says.

Most of the ballot campaigns say they launched petition drives in response to the Legislature’s failure to act.

Rick Pluta is Senior Capitol Correspondent for the Michigan Public Radio Network. He has been covering Michigan’s Capitol, government, and politics since 1987. His journalism background includes stints with UPI, The Elizabeth (NJ) Daily Journal, The (Pontiac, MI) Oakland Press, and WJR. He is also a lifelong public radio listener.
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