Voting on Voting Rights in November

Liz Gullett

Oct 28, 2022

In a few short weeks, Michigan voters will again cast their ballots on a proposal making reforms to voting laws in the state. This comes just four years after Michigan voters overwhelmingly approved major voting reforms, including allowing no-reason absentee voting. On the heels of those changes, this proposal would amend the State Constitution in a number of ways, including requiring nine days of early in-person voting.

Additional changes within Proposal 2022-2 include:

- Require military and overseas ballots to be counted if they’re postmarked by election day
- Allow a person to apply one time to vote absentee in all elections, currently a voter must apply each election to vote via absentee ballot
- Allow voters to verify identity with photo identification or a signed statement
- Require state-funded ballot drop boxes
- Require the state to pay the postage for absentee applications and ballots
- Require canvass boards to certify election results based on the official records of votes

Those in favor of the proposal tout the flexibility this would provide to voters and believe the reforms would allow for greater participation. Those opposed cite concerns over rising costs to local governments to hold early in-person voting and costs to the state to provide ballot drop boxes and covering postage.

To read the full ballot language, please click here.

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