Deeper Dive: Suppressing the Vote in Michigan

On the 12th anniversary of the Supreme Court invalidating key provisions of the Voting Rights Act - IGGR reviews National and State Initiatives to suppress the vote in Michigan.

There are canvassers on Michigan streets and public spaces from two different groups who are circulating petitions. It is important to know the intention of these ballot initiatives as they are designed to enact legislation that would in effect suppress the vote for many folks.

Michigan already has one of the safest and most secure voter security systems in the country. The MIT Election Data and Science Lab ranked Michigan’s elections second in the nation in 2022, based on the Election Performance Index (EPI), scoring 88%.

If you are interested in how the State of Michigan currently verifies the citizenship of voters, click here: Only U.S. citizens can vote

Michigan’s Ballot Initiatives

In January, Michigan House Republicans introduced House Joint Resolution B, primarily sponsored by Rep. Bryan Posthumus (R-90, Rockford). This proposed amendment to the Michigan constitution that would restrict the ability of eligible citizens to register to vote by introducing burdensome new requirements. On May 1, the House voted on HJR B, but it failed to get the two-thirds majority vote necessary to pass. The vote was 58-48, with all present Republicans voting in favor and all present Democrats voting against. (Read the text: House Joint Resolution B of 2025)

The sponsors of HJR B made it clear they intended to gather petition signatures for a constitutional ballot initiative in order to place the proposed amendment on the November 2026 ballot. Supporters filed a Ballot Question Committee called “Prove It, Michigan” (run by the Committee to Protect Voters’ Rights) and in April their petition was approved by the Board of Canvassers. They need to collect 446,198 valid signatures in order to put the initiative on the 2026 ballot.

A second petition to require proof-of-citizenship in order to vote was approved by the Board of Canvassers in May. This one is sponsored by Americans for Citizens Voting, a product of the Virginia-based libertarian Liberty Initiative Fund. It also needs to get 446,198 valid signatures.

Essentially, there are now two petitions circulating throughout the state of Michigan that want to make it harder to vote.

Quick facts on the petitions:

• These are NOT citizen-led initiatives! These efforts are led by Lansing politicians and national special interest groups.

• The changes are unnecessary: Michigan already has NEW voter ID and Secure Automatic Voter Registration laws that ensure only citizens can register and vote. Why are national special interests trying to change our secure voting laws?

• The proposals add red tape and extra burden: By putting these burdens on voters and our local clerks, politicians are trying to make elections more expensive and less efficient to benefit themselves.

• They will create a poll tax: The driver’s license or state ID you always vote with won’t be enough anymore. Can you afford a $165 passport?

• Makes it harder for eligible citizens to vote, especially rural voters: All registrations or registration updates must be made in person, no matter how far away the office is.

• Undoes voter-approved language in our state constitution: Michigan voters already passed Proposal 18-2 and Proposal 22-2. Why are politicians and special interests trying to rewrite our constitution and ignore our votes?

• Puts voters’ sensitive and personal information at risk: Your partial Social Security numbers, birth certificates, marriage licenses, and more could be at risk just to exercise your constitutional right to vote.

Bottom Line: Politicians and national special interest groups are trying to avoid accountability and are skipping our democratic processes so they can pick which voters are allowed to vote.

Let us not forget what we fought so hard to have for ALL. Photo by Unseen Histories on Unsplash

What You Can Do

Petitions in Michigan

Voters Not Politicians, the group behind the successful citizen-led anti-gerrymandering Proposal 2 in 2018, is leading the Decline to Sign campaign to prevent these petitions from making it to the ballot. There are several actions you can take to help:

• Do not sign either petition and ask your friends, family, and neighbors to do the same

• Sign up for the Decline to Sign campaign

• Report any sightings of petition circulators

• Learn how to safely engage the circulators carrying these harmful petitions and educate voters by attending an online training

• Write a letter to the Editor of your local paper

• Voters Not Politicians will be at events statewide talking to voters about the importance of not signing these suppressive initiatives. If you have a public event coming up where you and other volunteers can talk to voters or host a table, email their State Field Organizer Jacob Barondess at jbarondess@votersnotpoliticians.com.

SAVE Act

Keep an eye on the progress of the SAVE Act in the Senate. Be prepared to contract your Senators and tell them to vote no when it comes up for a vote.

Addendum: More information about the SAVE Act and HJR B

HJR B (Michigan) and the SAVE Act (Federal) are two different initiatives: the Michigan initiative seeks to amend the State of Michigan Constitution, the SAVE Act seeks to impose federal mandates on Michigan elections. They are not the same. If both are enacted, our clerks would be in for a nightmare.

The SAVE Act

• The SAVE Act was first introduced in 2024 as H.R. 8281 and re-introduced in 2025 as H.R. 22 by Rep. Chip Roy (R – TX21).

• On April 10, the US House of Representatives passed H.R. 22, in a 220-208 mostly party-line vote, with all seven Republican members of Michigan’s congressional delegation voting yes and ll Michigan Democratic Congressional representatives voting no.

• The bill now only needs to secure 60 votes in the Senate to be signed into law.

• The SAVE Act would require every single American citizen to bring documentary proof of citizenship – like a passport or original copy of a birth certificate – in person to register to vote or update their voter registration. (Michigan Real ID would not meet the required standard)

• This would especially harm the two-thirds of Black Americans who lack a valid U.S. passport, the tens of millions of Americans who do not have readily available access to their birth certificates, and millions of married women who do not have birth certificates with their current legal name.

• In Michigan, hundreds of thousands of eligible citizens are estimated to not have readily available access to the documentation required by the SAVE Act.

• Federal passage of the SAVE Act would apply only to federal elections, forcing the state to maintain two separate voter registration rolls and creating additional costs and burdens for our local clerks and election administrators.

House Joint Resolution B

• HJR B is not a voter ID bill, it is a proof of citizenship bill that forces voters to produce difficult-to-obtain and costly documentation in order to prove that they are eligible. The amendment would require that upon registering to vote, individuals provide documentary proof of citizenship, like a passport, naturalization papers, or birth certificate.

• Only 39.7% of Michigan citizens have a valid passport, well below the national average of 53.1%. This means almost 6 million Michigan citizens do not have a valid passport that could easily prove their citizenship.

• HJR B would have a huge impact on seniors, adoptees, college students, tribal citizens, low-income earners, people in rural communities, Black Michiganders, and active-duty military service members.

• HJR B is most likely to disenfranchise women – especially married women. 2.2 million Michigan women don’t have a birth certificate that matches their legal married name. HJR B provides no clear path for them to prove citizenship. It is unclear what documentary evidence would be required to prove citizenship, but it could potentially create barriers or hardship, especially for married women.

• HJR B will create chaos in Michigan elections, and place additional burdens on local clerks and election administrators, making our entire election process less efficient and more expensive.

Photo by Barbara Burgess on Unsplash

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