The question is now settled for Michigan voters: the Americans for Citizen Voting-Michigan constitutional amendment will not appear on the November 3 ballot.

On September 3, the Michigan Supreme Court denied ACVM’s request to overturn the Board of State Canvassers’ decision and order the proposal onto the ballot. This resolves the remaining state court challenge over whether the proposal would appear on the 2026 ballot.

Earlier, ACVM had also asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene. That request was denied.

This is good news for Michigan voters.

What the Michigan Supreme Court decided

After the Board of State Canvassers did not certify the proposal, Americans for Citizen Voting-Michigan, or ACVM, asked the Michigan Supreme Court to step in.

ACVM argued that some petition signatures rejected during the state review should have been counted and that the campaign did not have enough time to challenge the Bureau of Elections’ findings before the ballot deadline.

The Michigan Supreme Court denied the campaign’s request.

The court concluded that ACVM was not entitled to an order requiring the Board to certify the proposal. The court said the Board acted within the authority it has under Michigan law when reviewing the petition and deciding whether enough valid signatures had been submitted.

The court also addressed ACVM’s concerns about the timing of the review and the use of affidavits from voters whose petition signatures had been rejected.

Under current Michigan law, there is no specific deadline requiring the Bureau of Elections to complete this type of petition review within a certain number of days after signatures are submitted. The court said the Michigan Legislature could change the law to create clearer timelines and rules for when affidavits can be used to support rejected petition signatures.

How we got here

At its August 24 meeting, Michigan’s bipartisan Board of State Canvassers spent nearly seven hours reviewing disputed petition signatures after the nonpartisan Bureau of Elections determined that ACVM had not submitted enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot.

That review also found that many sampled signatures did not meet Michigan’s requirements. In its initial sample of 1,000 signatures, 129 were rejected because the signer was not registered to vote in the city or township listed on the petition.

Staff also noted that ACVM sponsors often used crayon to cross out signatures, which caused wax buildup on scanners and occasional stray marks on petition sheets.

By the end of that review, 626 of the 1,000 sampled signatures had been accepted as valid, three short of the 629 needed for certification.

The four-member Board then deadlocked 2-2 on whether to certify the proposal. Because at least three votes are needed for the Board to act, the proposal was not certified. Michigan’s ballot qualification process requires petitions to meet specific signature requirements before a proposal can be placed before voters.

At the time, we told readers that it was too early to say with certainty that the proposal would stay off the ballot because ACVM could ask the Michigan Supreme Court to intervene.

That court review has now happened.

¿Qué significa esto para los votantes de Michigan?

The ACVM constitutional amendment will not be on the November 3 ballot. The proposal was not certified for the ballot, and the court challenges seeking to place it there have now been resolved.

That means voters will not be asked this November to approve the changes contained in the proposal, including new documentary proof-of-citizenship requirements and changes to Michigan’s voter identification rules.

Michigan’s current voting laws remain in place.

VAAC will continue sharing accurate information about the proposals that will appear on Michigan’s November ballot and what voters need to know before casting their ballots.

Want to better understand what Michigan voters will be deciding this November?

Join our next VAAC Friday Community Meeting on September 11 for a Ballot Proposal Deep Dive: Michigan Ballot Initiatives Explained.

Nomi Joyrich, Michigan Director for Jews For a Secular Democracy, will join us to break down key Michigan ballot initiatives, what they propose to change, where they are in the process, and what voters should know as we move toward the November election.

Friday, September 11, 2026
12:30–1:30 p. m., hora del este
Virtual en Zoom a VAAC.me/Fridays

Everyone is welcome. This will be a nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) educational discussion.

Published: September 3, 2026 at 10:50pm EDT.