Proof of citizenship proposal might not make Michigan’s ballot

Proof of citizenship proposal might not make Michigan's ballot

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Proof of citizenship proposal might not make Michigan's ballot

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Lansing — A proposed constitutional amendment that would require proof of citizenship and a photo ID to vote fell short of the required signatures required for certification, Michigan's Bureau of Elections said in a report released Monday.
The report found the petition signatures submitted by Americans for Citizens Voting fell below the 434,423-signature threshold needed for certification, based on a 1,000-signature sample pulled from the petition submitted.
Under the sampling procedure developed by the Board of State Canvassers, at least 629 of the 1,000 signatures pulled had to be valid for the petition to be certified.
During their initial review, Bureau of Elections staff determined there were 692 valid signatures in the sample. After considering challenges to the petition, the bureau determined there were 612 valid signatures, 17 short of the 629-signature threshold.
The report will be submitted to the Board of State Canvassers, a bipartisan panel of two Republicans and two Democrats, which will review the invalidated signatures to determine whether to adopt the elections bureau staff recommendation against certification.
Among the reasons cited in the report for the invalid signature determinations were the lack of a signature, the wrong city or township, an invalid date, missing circulator information, or illegibility.
The bureau's recommendation, which will be debated at length before state canvassers, is a major blow to the committee advocating for the constitutional amendment. Americans for Citizens Voting reported spending $9.1 million on its campaign as of July 20, according to a disclosure.
The ballot initiative advanced by Americans for Citizens Voting would amend the constitution to require the secretary of state to verify the citizenship of all registered voters, document it and remove non-citizens, if found, from the registered voter file. The language also would prohibit clerks from counting ballots from voters whose citizenship has not been verified unless those voters show records documenting their citizenship within six days of an election.
Individuals could verify their citizenship by showing a passport, birth certificate or other documents.
The constitutional amendment would require photo ID to vote and eliminate the option for a voter to sign an affidavit attesting to their identity in place of a photo ID. The amendment would establish a state-funded hardship program that would be available to those unable to pay for a photo ID.
Currently, under state and federal law, all voters must be U.S. citizens. Voters usually prove as much when they sign an affidavit at the time of registration attesting they are citizens.
But in recent years, groups have called for more checks on that process, including requiring the secretary of state to verify citizenship before completing registration.
Those calls heightened in the 2024 presidential election when a Chinese national enrolled at the University of Michigan illegally voted in the presidential election. A subsequent review by the Michigan Secretary of State's office identified 15 non-citizens who voted in the November 2024 presidential election. Last week, Attorney General Dana Nessel announced she had charged five non-citizens who had voted in the 2024 election.
eleblanc@detroitnews.com
Staff Writer Craig Mauger contributed.
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