Michigan’s Tightened Voter ID Proposal Faces Hurdle as Board Declines Certification
Efforts to bring a stricter voter ID and registration amendment to Michigan voters hit a snag on Monday, as the proposal failed to secure certification from the state’s Board of State Canvassers. The decision followed scrutiny over the validity of several petition signatures submitted by proponents of the measure.
The campaign behind the proposed constitutional amendment, led by Americans for Citizen Voting Michigan (ACV), faced a setback when the board questioned the authenticity of signatures on the petitions. Paul Jacob, chair of ACV, expressed determination to contest the board’s ruling in court, stating, “We’re not giving up. You can’t cheat the people of Michigan and get away with it.”
The board’s deliberations focused on procedural nuances, with elections staff examining a sample of approximately 1,000 signatures out of the 710,000 submitted by ACV. The analysis aimed to meet the requirement of 446,198 valid signatures. Discrepancies in matching signatures with voter file records were a pivotal issue, prompting ACV to provide affidavits from voters affirming their signatures. However, these too were found not to match the voter file.
A critical point of contention arose over affidavits submitted after a 48-hour pre-meeting deadline, which could have altered the board’s decision if they had been timely. Despite ACV’s claims of disenfranchisement, the board remained deadlocked, with Board Chair Richard Houskamp advocating for the acceptance of these affidavits. “This was voters who had signed petitions, who were coming forward and saying, ‘You invalidated my signature. I’m coming forward to tell you that that really was my signature,'” Houskamp argued.
The board’s Democratic members, however, maintained that accepting late affidavits would be unjust, given the uniform application of the 48-hour rule to other challenges. Alongside the signature validity debate, the board also assessed issues such as damaged petition sheets and inconsistent addresses.
Critics of the ACV campaign, including Micheal Davis Jr. from Promote the Vote Action, highlighted an irony in the situation, noting that the proposed amendment would eliminate the ability to vote without an ID by signing an identity affidavit. “As they look to potentially disenfranchise tens and hundreds of thousands of Michiganders…they’re relying on that to make their point,” Davis remarked.
With the general election approaching, the matter may soon see resolution in the courts, given a September 4 deadline for finalizing ballot wording. Meanwhile, the board intends to approve the ballot question language for potential inclusion, though time constraints prevented the discussion of this agenda item.
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