Ballot Blocked Over 17 Signatures?

Voter registration form with green check on Other option — Photo: AR30MM Ariel Ruff / Shutterstock

A Michigan petition signed by more than 700,000 people got blocked from the ballot over a dispute involving just a few dozen signatures in a random sample, and the fight has now landed on a U.S. Supreme Court justice’s desk.

Story Snapshot

Americans for Citizen Voting–Michigan turned in 709,841 signatures, far more than the 446,198 needed to qualify.
State election staff sampled 1,000 signatures and said the group came up short of the 629 valid signatures required in that sample.
The Board of State Canvassers deadlocked 2-2 on August 24, keeping the measure off the November ballot.
The campaign asked Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh for an emergency order, and he has told Michigan to respond.
Michigan House Republicans formed a special committee to look into how the state reviewed the signatures.

A Huge Signature Haul Falls Short in a Small Sample

Americans for Citizen Voting–Michigan wants a constitutional amendment requiring voters to prove citizenship and show photo identification. The group collected 709,841 signatures, well above the 446,198 valid signatures needed statewide. Instead of checking every signature, the Michigan Bureau of Elections tested a random sample of 1,000 signatures. That sample needed 629 valid signatures to certify the whole petition.

Bureau staff first found 692 valid signatures in the sample, comfortably above the 629 needed. But after reviewing challenges from people opposing the measure, the number dropped. A final staff report concluded only 612 valid signatures remained, 17 short of the threshold.

Deadlocked Board Splits Along Party Lines

The four-member Board of State Canvassers met on August 24 to decide the petition’s fate. After nearly seven hours of debate over individual signatures, the board split 2-2 along party lines. That tie meant the measure failed to certify for the November ballot. One count during the meeting found 626 valid signatures, just three short of qualifying.

Campaign chair Paul Jacob said more than 700,000 Michiganders signed the petition and argued voters would be silenced if the board refused to certify it. Board members who voted against certification said their decision followed the same signature-review rules used for other petitions, including past requests from Democratic candidates.

Campaign Turns to the Supreme Court

After Michigan’s own courts did not act quickly, the campaign filed an emergency application on August 31 asking Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh to order the state to put the measure on the ballot. The group argued that officials threw out nearly 100 signatures over technical issues and waited more than five months to release the staff report.

Kavanaugh has directed Michigan to respond to the request, keeping the case active as of early September. It is worth noting the Supreme Court has not ruled on the merits of the dispute. An emergency filing is a request for the justices to act fast, not a decision that either side is right.

State Lawmakers Launch Their Own Investigation

Michigan House Republicans created a select committee to examine how the Bureau of Elections and the canvassing board reviewed the signatures. State Representative Mike Harris was named chairman of the panel, which will study the sampling process used to judge petitions with hundreds of thousands of signatures.

The dispute highlights a bigger question that shows up across many states: when a petition has too many signatures to check one by one, officials rely on small random samples to decide its fate. Supporters see that as an efficient shortcut. Critics on both sides worry it lets a handful of disputed signatures decide whether hundreds of thousands of voters get a say.

This initiative, signed by over 700,000 Michigan Voters (not the GOP) was to ask voters in November if proof of citizenship when you register, and ID when you vote is a good idea.
Not sure how either of those requirements could be construed as "suppression" or a "tax".

— Dave Kuehnle (@dave_kuehnle) September 1, 2026

For now, the measure remains off the November ballot while the legal fight continues. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson oversees the Bureau of Elections that produced the disputed signature count, and both the state courts and the U.S. Supreme Court could still weigh in before Election Day arrives.