Michigan board rejects proof-of-citizenship ballot measure for November election, but legal challenge looms

A proposed constitutional amendment requiring voters to show proof of citizenship failed to secure approval to appear on the ballot in Michigan this November after the state’s Board of Canvassers deadlocked on the measure.

But that doesn’t mean it’s dead. Backers of the restrictive anti-voting measure are expected to ask the Michigan Supreme Court to decide whether it will go on the ballot in November.

After nearly seven hours of debate, the board stalemated Monday in a 2-2 vote on certifying the signatures in support of the ballot measure, according to reporting by Michigan Advance. Much of Monday’s debate hung on the validity of those signatures and addresses. 

The Board of Canvassers is composed of two Democrats and two Republicans. 

In March, a group called Americans for Citizen Voting submitted more than 750,000 signatures for a ballot measure to amend the state’s constitution to require Michigan residents show photo ID to vote, implement a systematic review of the state’s Qualified Voter File (QVF) and state that only American citizens are to vote in elections — even though it’s already against federal and state law for noncitizens to vote. In order to put a measure before voters, supporters needed to gather at least 446,198 valid signatures — at least 10% of the votes cast for governor in the last election. 

Rather than check the validity of every single signature and accompanying address, the board took a random sample of 1,000 submitted signatures. At least 629 signatures needed to be valid to certify the ballot measure, but the board only found 626 were valid. Prior to the board’s meeting, the Michigan Bureau of Elections recommended against approving the ballot measure based on the same 1,000-signature sample size.

Mark Brewer, attorney representing opponents of the proof-of-citizenship measure, reportedly said Americans for Citizen Voting’s effort had been a “very sloppy petition drive from the very beginning.”

“Michigan election deniers are so incompetent they can’t even run a petition drive funded by millions of dollars in out of state money,” Brewer said on social media. “100K+ unregistered signers, 10’s of 1000’s of duplicate signatures, forgers hired to circulate, stale signatures and more.”

Paul Jacob, a lawyer for Americans for Citizen Voting, reportedly said that his group will sue to get the proof-of-citizenship amendment on the November ballot — and take it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary.