By Lily Guiney
Gongwer News Service
A constitutional amendment from Americans for Citizen Voting Michigan requiring the purging of non-citizens from the voting rolls and new proof of identification requirements for all voters was blocked from the ballot on Monday after a deadlocked vote from the Board of State Canvassers.
The board voted 2-2 on whether the group had sufficient valid signatures from registered voters to qualify for the ballot, meaning as it stands, the proposal won’t appear on the ballot.
The group collected 709,841 signatures. The board then pulled a sample of 1,000 signatures. To reach the threshold of 446,198 valid signatures, 629 in the sample had to be valid. Bureau of Elections staff last week found the group had 612 valid signatures, finding issues with duplicates, damaged petitions, errors and other problems.
Americans for Citizen Voting Michigan, in a response filed Friday, requested the rehabilitation of more than 100 signatures, countering the bureau’s analysis.
The board on Monday agreed to rehabilitate 14 signatures, bringing them to 626 – still short. From there, the board deadlocked on further signatures, particularly on affidavits submitted by people whose signatures the bureau threw out, asserting the signature did not match the voter’s signature in the Qualified Voter File.
Paul Jacob, chair of Americans for Citizens Voting, said the group will quickly file suit in court to overturn the board’s decision.
“People deserve a vote on this issue, and they’re going to get one,” he told reporters after the meeting. “We are going to go to every court we’ve got to go to. We’ll go to the Supreme Court of Michigan. We’ll go to the U.S. Supreme Court, wherever we have to go because this is a travesty of justice.”
The courts will have to rule quickly. The Nov. 3 ballot must be certified by Sept. 4.
Much of the board’s discussion centered around the affidavits, some of which were submitted after Saturday, thus exceeding a procedural deadline set by the board and generally adhered to in prior meetings. Of the several affidavits brought before the board by voters whose signatures were in question, five remained outstanding at the end of the meeting.
After several hours of discussion, the board granted the proposal’s backers a net additional two signatures from the set of affidavit names. Attorneys for the group argued for the consideration of the remaining five affidavits, but the canvassers deadlocked and the remainders were thrown out, leaving the petitioners three signatures short.
Board Chair Richard Houskamp, who along with fellow Republican canvasser Paul Cordes argued for the inclusion of the final five affidavits, said although he had hoped to see a different outcome, the decision was representative of the board’s process and procedure.
“I think of it as this is what our process looks like,” Houskamp said. “This is what democracy looks like. You had people that disagreed, and you had people that agreed, and you watched it happen.”
Jacob acknowledged his group’s odds aren’t ideal before the 6-1 Democratic Michigan Supreme Court if litigation ends up there, but said he’s hopeful based on the facts of the case and the discussion had by the canvassers on Monday.
“They acknowledged there's a number of registered voters who signed this petition that they're not giving us credit for… even the two Democratic canvassers on the board, who deadlocked on everything and wouldn't give us anything,” Jacob said. “It's 6 to 1 (on MSC), Democrats to Republicans. Look, all we can do is have faith in God and do the right stuff. We're going to go to that court, and we're going to hope that they do the right thing.”
Despite the board’s deadlocked vote, a 100-word summary will still be considered and likely approved by the canvassers at their next meeting, which will have to take place before Sept. 4. Houskamp said it was
recommended by the Bureau of Elections as a contingency in the event the courts ultimately allow the issue to appear on November ballots.
During the meeting, Democratic canvasser Heather Cummings noted that the review of signatures could have been made easier if Gov. Gretchen Whitmer had not vetoed bills put before her in 2025 which would have allowed for one of two signatures to be counted in the event of duplicate signatures being found in petition sheets instead of both being disqualified. Houskamp agreed after the meeting and said he would support the legislation being reintroduced.
“I think the Legislature needs to give us the ability to look at the whole picture. Strict compliance, I think, has gotten strict beyond reasonable. You saw that clearly today. There were clearly some errors, it's not worth me going down the list of what those are,” Houskamp said of the lengthy process the board underwent during its line-by-line review of signatures. “There were a whole bunch of items in that package that we went and testified on (in 2025) and there were a number of items in there that we were hoping would get across the line, and by the way… were nonpartisan. That was both the Republicans and the Democrats who wanted that.”
Gongwer News Service
A constitutional amendment from Americans for Citizen Voting Michigan requiring the purging of non-citizens from the voting rolls and new proof of identification requirements for all voters was blocked from the ballot on Monday after a deadlocked vote from the Board of State Canvassers.
The board voted 2-2 on whether the group had sufficient valid signatures from registered voters to qualify for the ballot, meaning as it stands, the proposal won’t appear on the ballot.
The group collected 709,841 signatures. The board then pulled a sample of 1,000 signatures. To reach the threshold of 446,198 valid signatures, 629 in the sample had to be valid. Bureau of Elections staff last week found the group had 612 valid signatures, finding issues with duplicates, damaged petitions, errors and other problems.
Americans for Citizen Voting Michigan, in a response filed Friday, requested the rehabilitation of more than 100 signatures, countering the bureau’s analysis.
The board on Monday agreed to rehabilitate 14 signatures, bringing them to 626 – still short. From there, the board deadlocked on further signatures, particularly on affidavits submitted by people whose signatures the bureau threw out, asserting the signature did not match the voter’s signature in the Qualified Voter File.
Paul Jacob, chair of Americans for Citizens Voting, said the group will quickly file suit in court to overturn the board’s decision.
“People deserve a vote on this issue, and they’re going to get one,” he told reporters after the meeting. “We are going to go to every court we’ve got to go to. We’ll go to the Supreme Court of Michigan. We’ll go to the U.S. Supreme Court, wherever we have to go because this is a travesty of justice.”
The courts will have to rule quickly. The Nov. 3 ballot must be certified by Sept. 4.
Much of the board’s discussion centered around the affidavits, some of which were submitted after Saturday, thus exceeding a procedural deadline set by the board and generally adhered to in prior meetings. Of the several affidavits brought before the board by voters whose signatures were in question, five remained outstanding at the end of the meeting.
After several hours of discussion, the board granted the proposal’s backers a net additional two signatures from the set of affidavit names. Attorneys for the group argued for the consideration of the remaining five affidavits, but the canvassers deadlocked and the remainders were thrown out, leaving the petitioners three signatures short.
Board Chair Richard Houskamp, who along with fellow Republican canvasser Paul Cordes argued for the inclusion of the final five affidavits, said although he had hoped to see a different outcome, the decision was representative of the board’s process and procedure.
“I think of it as this is what our process looks like,” Houskamp said. “This is what democracy looks like. You had people that disagreed, and you had people that agreed, and you watched it happen.”
Jacob acknowledged his group’s odds aren’t ideal before the 6-1 Democratic Michigan Supreme Court if litigation ends up there, but said he’s hopeful based on the facts of the case and the discussion had by the canvassers on Monday.
“They acknowledged there's a number of registered voters who signed this petition that they're not giving us credit for… even the two Democratic canvassers on the board, who deadlocked on everything and wouldn't give us anything,” Jacob said. “It's 6 to 1 (on MSC), Democrats to Republicans. Look, all we can do is have faith in God and do the right stuff. We're going to go to that court, and we're going to hope that they do the right thing.”
Despite the board’s deadlocked vote, a 100-word summary will still be considered and likely approved by the canvassers at their next meeting, which will have to take place before Sept. 4. Houskamp said it was
recommended by the Bureau of Elections as a contingency in the event the courts ultimately allow the issue to appear on November ballots.
During the meeting, Democratic canvasser Heather Cummings noted that the review of signatures could have been made easier if Gov. Gretchen Whitmer had not vetoed bills put before her in 2025 which would have allowed for one of two signatures to be counted in the event of duplicate signatures being found in petition sheets instead of both being disqualified. Houskamp agreed after the meeting and said he would support the legislation being reintroduced.
“I think the Legislature needs to give us the ability to look at the whole picture. Strict compliance, I think, has gotten strict beyond reasonable. You saw that clearly today. There were clearly some errors, it's not worth me going down the list of what those are,” Houskamp said of the lengthy process the board underwent during its line-by-line review of signatures. “There were a whole bunch of items in that package that we went and testified on (in 2025) and there were a number of items in there that we were hoping would get across the line, and by the way… were nonpartisan. That was both the Republicans and the Democrats who wanted that.”
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