Nov. 8 General Election: No Ballot Questions Before Michigan Voters

Voting will be a straightforward affair for Michigan residents in the Nov. 8 general election after several proposed statewide ballot measures failed to make it. Because voter turnout is generally high in presidential election years, interest groups often try to get big measures on the ballot.

But not this year, and that’s something that hasn’t happened in more than 50 years.

So, barring a court intervention to put a recreational marijuana legalization before voters, they’ll simply mark their choices in individual races, or vote a straight ticket — a right that was upheld earlier this month when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Michigan officials’ appeal of lower court ruling that banned implementation of the law.

In a review of state records, The Detroit News found Michigan voters have weighed in on at least 50 statewide proposals over the past 13 presidential election cycles.

Experts cite ineffective petition drives, referendum-proof legislation and tapped out donors for the absence of ballot proposals this year on the statewide ballot, which was certified on Sept. 9 and will be sent out Sept. 24 for county clerks for distribution to absentee, military and overseas voters.

“It takes a perfect storm for no proposals to make the ballot,” Michigan political expert Bill Ballenger told The Detroit News. “Everything has to go wrong.”

The MI Legalize pro-marijuana group, whose petition to legalize recreational use of pot was denied by state canvassers because signatures were collected outside of the 180-day window, is considering an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Court intervention is unlikely, admitted Jeff Hank, the attorney who spearheaded the drive to gather 354,000 signatures to put to the referendum on the ballot.

The group said on Facebook that efforts to legalize weed among users 21 and older will continue.

Many lessons have been learned and we've united a movement that so freaked out the establishment they had to change petition laws to make it even harder for you to have your voice heard, and they stole the 2016 election,” the group wrote. “... When we come back next time there will be no stopping us.”

Citing duplicate signatures, the State Board of Canvassers also rejected a petition that would have repealed the state’s Michigan’s prevailing wage law, under which the state’s Wage and Hour establishes wage and fringe benefits paid to construction workers on government-funded projects. The proposal was backed by the business-backed Protecting Michigan Taxpayers group, which opposes what it considers an economically crippling law.

Petition language was approved for a dozen committees, but only MI Michigan and Protecting Michigan Taxpayers submitted proposals.

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