Right-wing group asks Supreme Court to put Michigan proof-of-citizenship amendment on November ballot

A right-wing group asked the U.S. Supreme Court Monday to ensure a proposed constitutional amendment requiring Michigan voters to show proof of citizenship will be on November’s ballot. 

The request comes less than a week after the ballot measure failed to secure approval to appear before voters because the state’s Board of Canvassers deadlocked during a vote on it.

In March, a group called Americans for Citizen Voting Michigan (ACVM) submitted more than 750,000 signatures to ask voters to take up the constitutional amendment. If enacted, it would require Michigan residents to 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. Both federal and state law already bar noncitizens from voting.

But the process for considering the measure proved extremely controversial. 

In order to put a measure before voters, supporters needed to gather at least 446,198 valid signatures — 10% of the votes cast for governor in the last election. But rather than check the validity of every single signature, 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. As a result, the board — composed of two Democrats and two Republicans — voted 2-2 on approving the measure.

Since then, both sides have traded allegations of wrongdoing. Opponents of the ballot measure alleged that ACVM forged signatures and edited petitions. 

And after the Board of Canvassers vote, Republicans in the Michigan House of Representatives voted to formally investigate the signature review process for the ballot measure.

Paul Jacob, a lawyer for Americans for Citizen Voting, previously told reporters that his group would sue to get the amendment on November’s ballot. But it was expected ACVM would file a lawsuit in the Michigan Supreme Court. 

“This case is about something bigger than our amendment,” Jacob said in a statement on social media. “It is about whether Michigan citizens who follow the law and participate in the constitutional petition process are entitled to due process.”

Mark Brewer, an attorney representing opponents of the proof-of-citizenship measure, criticized ACVM’s signature-gathering drive and the House’s vote.

“The investigative target should be ACVM for hiring known signature forgers as circulators, filing signatures of dead people, filing tens of thousands of duplicate signatures including a person who signed dozens of times, making corrections in crayon, and other careless errors,” Brewer said.