- The Board of State Canvassers advanced a ballot proposal Friday to ban political spending by regulated utilities and large government contractors
- An opposition group had challenged voter signatures submitted by Michiganders for Money Out of Politics
- State lawmakers could approve the measure or take no action, which would send it to the general election vote on Nov. 3
LANSING — Voters likely will have a chance this fall to decide whether to ban political spending by Michigan’s regulated utilities and major government contractors in state elections.
In a 3-1 vote, the bipartisan Board of State Canvassers approved petition signatures submitted by Michiganders for money from politics.
Lawmakers now have 40 days to approve the group’s measure or put the proposal on the ballot in the November general election.
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The initiative aims to rein in spending by DTE Energy, Consumers Energy and other companies that have long donated to candidates of both major political parties in Michigan.
Proponents say the change could reduce the influence of these companies and encourage more lawmakers to take action against electricity price hikes. Critics claim it would silence the free speech of employees at such companies.
“Today is proof that a people-driven movement can stand up to some of the most powerful special interests in Michigan,” Christy McGillivray, co-chair of Michiganders for Money Out of Politics, said in a statement.
The Board of State Canvassers must still approve a 100-word summary of the initiative before it appears on the November ballot. and an opposition group on Friday suggested taking legal action to try to block the proposal before it reaches voters.
The four-member election committee includes two Democrats and two Republicans, whose job it is to approve the formatting of the petitions. The committee does not take a position on the content of a petition.
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Signature verification
Election workers, lawyers and Michigan Bureau of Elections officials spent hours Friday going through sheet after sheet of submitted petitions to assess the validity of voter signatures.
Office staff had recommended certification after reviewing a sample of the 561,282 signatures submitted by the group, but an opposition committee
Representatives of companies that could be more affected by the proposed proposal should have been disqualified.
“The petitions are sloppy,” said Gary Gordon, an attorney with Protect MI Free Speech. “They contain numerous errors, including nonexistent addresses, people who have already signed, people who were not registered to vote, and, worst of all, people who have signed multiple times.”
He argued that Michiganders for Money Out of Politics “gamed the system” by submitting far more than the required 356,958 signatures, thereby “increasing the burden” on the Bureau of Elections employees who verified them.
Michael Brady, who represents Michiganders for Money Out of Politics, countered that even the Bureau of Elections recognizes that “best practice is to file far more than is required.”
“It’s not my client’s fault that he filed more than necessary,” he added, calling it “the reality of the game” when it came to distribution.
Michiganders for Money Out of Politics, a group that wants to ban political spending by the state’s regulated utilities and large government contractors, secured ballot access following a vote by the Board of State Canvassers on Friday. (Jordyn Hermani/Bridge Michigan)
The long back-and-forth prompted Democratic campaigner Heather Cummings to liken signature verification to “hanging children” during an audit of Florida ballots in the 2000 presidential election.
In the end, respondents apparently agreed that 645 signatures in the sample of 1,000 were valid, just nine more than the 636 threshold the state had recommended for approval.
Citing that narrow margin, a spokesman for the opposition Protect MI Free Speech committee suggested the group could take legal action to try to keep the measure off the ballot.
“Given the enormous number of errors and questionable petition signatures uncovered, coupled with personnel errors and the margin of error, we reserve the right to pursue all options available to us, including legal action,” said spokesman John Sellek.
Jonathan Brater, state elections director, acknowledged that some of the signature challenges were credible, but “ultimately, based on a review of the sample … our recommendation remains that the petition is deemed sufficient” to advance to the vote.
Under the state constitution, lawmakers now have 40 days to decide whether to approve the measure and sign it into law without a public vote, which is unlikely given the political disagreements. If no decision is made by then, voters will have the opportunity to decide on it in November.
This article first appeared on Bridge Michigan and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license.
https://bridgemi.com/michigan-government/money-out-of-politics-proposal-cleared-for-michigan-ballot/
