August 2025

Aside from a growing shake-up in the political landscape in Oakland County for 2026, thanks to the decision by U.S. Senator Gary Peters (D-Bloomfield Township) to retire from public office at the end of his term next year, voters may well be facing a number of statewide ballot issues based on the activity level of the Michigan Board of State Canvassers of late.

Established in 1850, the four-person bipartisan board, appointed to four-year terms by the governor, is responsible for approving language for statewide ballot issues, beginning with what summary language appears on petitions seeking citizen signatures to allow an issue to go before voters.

Once language is approved, and the issue has been registered with the office of the Secretary of State, citizen initiative efforts have 180 days to gather sufficient signatures to get on the ballot.

In terms of signature requirements, a constitutional amendment requires registered voter signatures of at least 10 percent of the number of votes cast for governor in the last election. For legislative initiative issues, eight percent of the votes last cast for governor, and for veto referendums, five percent is the requirement. In 2020, approximately 4.5 million votes were cast for the office of governor.

Not requiring any signatures to make the ballot next year will be the question of whether voters think it is time to hold a Constitutional Convention, often referred to as a Con-Con.

Michigan is one of 14 states that automatically puts the question of a Con-Con before voters periodically. The current Michigan Constitution, adopted in 1963, provides in Article XII that a Con-Con question should be put before voters every 16 years. State voters here in 1978, 1994 and 2010 were wise enough to reject the question when asked if they supported a Con-Con. I say wise enough because because opening up the constitution is a major undertaking that puts everything in our current governing document on the table for possible changes or elimination. Think protection of women’s health options, rights of the LGBTQ+ community, taxes, education, including how to fund it, the death penalty, for starters. All issues that have already been determined by Michigan voters at the ballot box could be overturned, so why risk losing the progress that has been made?

Should voters next year actually support a Con-Con, here’s what would take place.

First, within six months there would have to be special primary and general elections called to select delegates for the convention. Each state House district – all 110 of them – would get one delegate, as would each of the 38 state Senate districts, who would be selected by voters. Those 148 delegates, each paid what state lawmakers now draw annually, about $71,000, would first convene in October of 2027.

It would be strictly up to the delegates how long the process would take to either make changes to the current constitution or write a completely new document. Some estimate that the process could take one-two years at a roughly estimated cost of $45 million. Then the final document would be put before state voters for possible approval.

But more on that when we get closer to the 2026 election cycle. Right now, the concern should be the multiple petition effort to place issues on the ballot for next year.

So far the Board of State Canvassers has approved petition wording for several proposals.

Fair Share Surcharge: This amendment to the Michigan Constitution would basically introduce graduated income tax by imposing a five percent surcharge on those making more than $500,000 per year. Supporters say the added tax revenue would help fund public services, including schools. Critics are objecting to both the graduated income tax and say that there is no specific guarantee the added monies would go to schools. Others argue that adding even more money into the education of children in the past has not improved the results.

Rank My Vote: Another amendment to the constitution, this proposal would introduce ranked voting for state and federal elections. Supporters say this would be an “upgrade” to the election process because it allows voters to rank candidates on the ballot. Candidates drawing the least votes in an election would be eliminated and votes cast for them would be redistributed to other candidates on the ballot. Instead of voters casting a ballot for just one candidate, voters would rank all other candidates on the ballot. If no one candidate gets an outright majority of votes, then those getting the least number of votes would be eliminated and their votes redistributed to candidates who were voters’ second choice. The process would continue until there are only two candidates remaining and the one with the most votes would be declared the winner. It is a complex voting system that is being used in a some. local communities and several states. A complex change to the voting process may prove hard to sell to petition signers. A recent poll showed that 65 percent of those polled in Michigan do not support this change to the voting proess.

Stop Pay Cuts: This proposal is a citizen-initiated legislative referendum to repeal Public Act 1 of 2025 which had devised a schedule for raising the minimum wage, including the wages for tipped workers. If approved, the state act would be halted and in its place would be higher wage standards set by the courts.

Citizenship Voting: Also a constitutional amendment, if approved on the ballot voters would have to provide documentation proving citizenship. The Secretary of State would be required to review the voter rolls and remove non-citizens. Critics note that federal law already requires only citizens can vote and this proposal is one in search of a problem that rarely exists. There is also concern that married women may have a tough time proving citizenship because of name changes.

There are several other petition requests that will surface in coming months, along them those dealing with elimination of property taxes, restrictions on lobbying, and a second voter proposal that could conflict with the one outlined earlier.

My advice for the time being – think twice or even longer before signing to help get any of these on the ballot. Some are severely flawed or simply are addressing issues that are much more complicated than the proposals would suggest to voters.

Fortunately Michigan is one of the states that allows citizen petition drives to put issues on the ballot but that does not mean every petition you are presented is worth signing.

David Hohendorf

Publisher

DavidHohendorf@DowntownPublications.com