LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – During the 2022 election, Michiganders approved Proposal 2’s “Promote the Vote” ballot initiative 59.99% to 40.01%. The proposal was an amendment to the Michigan Constitution and was coordinated, marketed and advanced by the Promote the Vote organization as a “voting rights” initiative. Coalition members included ACLU Michigan, the League of Women Voters, the NAACP Michigan State Conference and others.

The ballot initiative enumerated rights for Michigan voters and included the use of an early voting site up to nine days before election day, the use of a signed affidavit to verify voter identity instead of an ID if chosen, placement on a permanent absentee voter list, prepaid ballot postage, access to ballot drop boxes and more.

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Before that, in 2018, Promote the Vote also wrote up ballot Proposal 3 which was passed by more than two-thirds of Michigan voters. Under that proposal, which also amended the Michigan Constitution, it included straight-party voting, no-reason absentee voting and same-day voter registration.

Now, both ballot initiatives are at the center of a lawsuit by 11 Republican legislators who have claimed in federal court that it left lawmakers out of the process in changing election law by a ballot initiative and that it is therefore unconstitutional.

The lawsuit was filed on Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan and it lists the defendants as Governor Gretchen Gretchen Whitmer, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, and Jonathan Brater, Director of Elections. The Republican plaintiffs include state senators Jonathan Lindsey and James Runestad as well as state representatives James DeSana, Rachelle Smit, Steve Carra, Joseph Fox, Matt Maddock, Angela Rigas, Josh Schriver, Neil Friske and Brad Paquette. Attorneys for the case include Erick G. Kaardal of Mohrman, Kaardal & Erickson, P.A. and David A. And Stephen P. Kallman of the Great Lakes Justice Center.

The lawsuit seeks the prevention of the use of the aforementioned proposals on the basis that they are an “unconstitutional usurpation of state legislator’s rights to participate in law-making decisions” under the Elections Clause in the Constitution which requires state legislatures to regulate the “times, places and manner” of federal elections. The lawsuit says, “The petitioning and state ballot processes to amend the Michigan Constitution under Article XII, Section 2, when used to regulate the times, places, and manner of federal elections, are per se violations of legislators federal rights under the Elections Clause because the state legislators are not involved.”

In a press conference webinar, state Senator Jonathan Lindsey, one of the legislator plaintiffs, said, “The United States Constitution, the supreme law of the land, contains limited, but critical, election regulations. We also have procedures in place at the state level to amend election law. However, these processes were violated in 2018 and 2022 when an alternative amendment process was used without regard to federal constitutional requirements. This lawsuit challenges recent attempts to subvert our constitutional process and will protect against such actions in the future.”

Michael Davis Jr., Executive Director of Promote the Vote, says the proposals make elections more “secure and accessible.” Those who support the ballot proposals say that undoing the election changes would steal power away from the voters who approved the measures and Davis Jr. says about the lawsuit in a statement, “The power-hungry, anti-democratic forces behind this lawsuit seek to steal the power properly exercised by the voters of Michigan for themselves. There’s not a chance in hell that Promote the Vote, our coalition partners, the courts or the voters of Michigan are going to let that happen.”

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The lawsuit most likely will not stop the Democrats in the legislature from continuing to make election reforms. Just last week, they passed legislation to codify online applications for absentee ballots and allow paid rides to polls.

On the Steve Gruber Show on Friday, Attorney Erick G. Kaardal, Special Counsel for Thomas More Society, discussed the lawsuit with radio talk-show host, Steve Gruber.

Attorney Kaardal spoke about how the state officials in Michigan are violating “big” laws. He explained the reason it took so long for a lawsuit to be filed was because they were waiting for the Supreme Court decision in the Moore v. Harper case which was decided in June. Kaardal said that the justices gave the opinion that the state legislature has a particular federal constitutional authority to regulate the times, places and manner of elections and he added, “That was the case that really triggers individual state legislator’s rights, civil rights, federal rights, to sue in this circumstance.”

Kaardal said that Michigan is ground zero for this battle and asked Gruber, “Are state legislatures going to be in charge or are we going to allow executive officials and these constitutional amendment procedures without the state legislature to be in charge?”

In the Constitution, Article 1, Section 4, Clause 1, which is commonly referred to as the Elections Clause, the exact language says “The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.”

However, in 2015, the Supreme Court ruled in Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission that the word “Legislature” could refer to a body with lawmaking power, including the people of Arizona.

Michigan News Source reached out to Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson about the lawsuit but her communications team said that they don’t comment on pending litigation.