petition signatures

The Michigan Supreme Court has sent a lawsuit over a 2018 ballot initiative law back to the Court of Appeals, saying the lawsuit should be dismissed.

That means the Republican-supported 2018 law to make it more difficult for citizens to mount petition drives in Michigan is probably not enforceable.

The law would have capped signatures on petitions from any one congressional district to 15%.

The campaign to add LGBTQ rights to Michigan’s civil rights law has more time to collect signatures, but not in time to make the November 2020 ballot.

That decision came Wednesday from a Michigan Court of Claims judge. She said restrictions on gatherings due to COVID-19 deprived the Fair and Equal Michigan campaign of the right to petition the government. But she also refused to reduce the required number of signatures.

The Michigan Supreme Court will hear arguments on whether a law that makes it more difficult for petition drives to qualify for the ballot is constitutional.

Democrats in the state Senate want to change a controversial law that passed during last year’s lame duck session.

The bill was signed into law by Governor Rick Snyder in late December. It changes the requirements for collecting signatures to get a measure on the ballot. Democrats say it makes the process too difficult.

A judge wants to hear testimony from a handwriting expert in the next few days before deciding if a recall election against Flint’s mayor can take place in November.

Mayor Karen Weaver’s attorney launched a final legal attack on the recall petition this week, arguing before a judge that the county clerk’s office certified the petition despite numerous forgeries.