LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – The push to bring ranked choice voting to Michigan’s ballot in 2026 has officially face-planted. The group behind the proposal announced it is ending its petition effort after failing to collect enough valid signatures – proving that selling a complicated election overhaul to everyday voters is easier on paper than on pavement.
Ranked choice voting proponents pitched the system as a more “fair” way to vote. In practice, it would have required voters to rank candidates by preference, triggering multiple rounds of vote redistribution if no one hit a majority threshold. But Michigan voters apparently weren’t buying it – and not signing the petition in the droves that the organizers expected.
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Just Tuesday, the group had sent an email boasting that it had grown into a “powerful” people-driven movement and was ready to “step into an exciting and impactful 2026 together.” Shortly after, they told their volunteers that they were closing up shop.
Why? Organizers for the petition drive need to collect 446,198 valid voter signatures in a 180-day window in order to make it to the 2026 general election ballot. However, according to WLNS News, the group was about 200,000 signatures short as of earlier December.
Hall blames out-of-state radical activists for ballot petition failure.
House Speaker Matt Hall (R–Richland Township) didn’t exactly hide his satisfaction at the petition’s collapse in a statement he released on Thursday.
“I said from the beginning that the people of Michigan strongly oppose ranked choice voting, and the news today shows exactly that,” Hall said, calling the proposal an attempt by “out-of-state, left-wing radicals” to complicate and hijack Michigan elections.
Clerks from both parties waved the red flag.
One of the biggest warning signs for the proposal? Michigan’s election clerks – the people who actually run elections – wanted nothing to do with it.
According to Hall, clerks from both parties unanimously opposed ranked choice voting, citing concerns that it would be confusing for voters and difficult to administer. He said in his statement, “You knew this was a terrible proposal, because the clerks who administer our elections unanimously came out in opposition. When you have Republican and Democrat election administrators saying ranked choice voting is complicated, confusing, and would be bad for our election process, you know it’s a horrible idea.”
Legislature moves to lock the door.
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Back in August, House Republicans passed House Bill 4707, which would ban ranked choice voting outright and enshrine the current system in Michigan law. The bill is now sitting in the Senate Committee on Elections and Ethics.
“What we need now is for the Senate to listen to the people of Michigan and pass our ban on ranked choice voting,” Hall said. “The people don’t want it, so let’s make it official.”
