A petition to overturn Michigan’s emergency manager law — and whether that petition will appear as a referendum on the November ballot — is at issue in a case scheduled to go before the state Supreme Court today.
In Stand Up for Democracy v Secretary of State, the Michigan Court of Appeals ordered the Board of State Canvassers, which had deadlocked 2-2 on whether to certify the petition, to place the measure on the November 2012 ballot.
If successful, the referendum would overturn 2011 PA 4, the Local Government and School District Fiscal Accountability Act (MCL 14.1501 et seq.), the state’s emergency manager law.
Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility, a group that opposes the referendum, argues that the petition signature forms did not comply with a statutory requirement for the petition
headings to be in 14-point type.
Stand Up for Democracy, the group that seeks to have the measure placed on the ballot, contends that the petition does comply with the statute. Even if the heading type is smaller than 14 point, the group argues, the petition is in “substantial compliance” with statutory requirements.
The Michigan Court of Appeals, while finding that the petition “contains a fatal formatting defect,” nevertheless ordered the Board of State Canvassers to place the measure on the ballot, finding that the petition did substantially comply with the heading type size requirement.
The appeals court added that it would reach a different conclusion if the panel were not bound by an earlier Court of Appeals decision, Bloomfield Charter Township v Oakland County Clerk, 253 Mich App 1 (2002), which states that “substantial compliance” with statutory referenda requirements is sufficient.
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