Active Stop Illegal Ballot Initiatives in Michigan
Active public project about a federal challenge to Michigan ballot proposals that the page says rewrote federal-election rules without the state legislature.
Earlier public path: /stop-bad-ballot
The live page headline is “Stop Illegal Ballot Initiatives in Michigan.” The browser title is “Stop Illegal Ballot Initiatives.” It lists the status as active and the next milestone as phase 1. The public address is /stop-bad-ballot. The hero on this page is the public Stop Illegal Ballot Initiatives graphic from the live projects list.
Summary
The public page says the Elections Clause, Article I, Section 4, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution, assigns the times, places, and manner of federal congressional elections to the state legislature, subject only to change by Congress. It says that in Michigan, 2018 Proposal 3 and 2022 Proposal 2 changed voter registration, absentee balloting, and federal election procedures through the petition process in Article XII, Section 2 of the Michigan Constitution, without the Michigan Senate and House of Representatives enacting those rules.
The page says earlier litigation by state legislators met standing limits. It says a U.S. Supreme Court decision it calls Bost gives federal congressional candidates standing to contest the rules that govern their own elections. It says federal congressional candidates in Michigan are filing a civil-rights action in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan against Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, and Director of Elections Jonathan Brater. It says the suit seeks a declaration and an injunction that citizen-initiated ballot proposals cannot amend a state constitution to regulate federal contests, and that the 2018 and 2022 amendments are void as applied to federal congressional elections. The page does not give a docket number.
The page says a gift supports that filing, including a complaint, a preliminary-injunction request, hearings, and appellate briefs. Gifts to this project are donations to Five Stones Legal Defense Fund.
What the public page lists as the aims
- Enforce the Elections Clause so that, on the page’s account, the Michigan Legislature is the state body that prescribes rules for federal congressional elections.
- Use federal congressional candidates as plaintiffs, which the page says answers earlier standing defenses.
- Ask a court to declare the federal-election parts of 2018 Proposal 3 and 2022 Proposal 2 unenforceable in federal contests because, the page says, neither measure passed through the legislature.
- Ask a court to bar the named state officials from carrying out those ballot amendments in federal elections.
- Seek a ruling in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and, the page says, the U.S. Supreme Court.
Milestones listed on the public page
- Federal complaint, injunction motion, and candidate standing. Marked active. The page says this step is filing a candidate-led civil-rights complaint under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983, 2201, and 2202 in the Western District of Michigan, briefing a preliminary injunction, and answering a motion to dismiss. It lists an estimated figure of $175,000 for trial-court legal fees and litigation costs.
- Sixth Circuit appeal. The page says this step is briefing and argument for a holding that citizen ballot initiatives cannot replace the legislature’s role in regulating federal elections. It lists an estimated figure of $54,000 for appellate briefing, oral argument, and federal motion practice.
Counsel named on the public page
The page names Erick G. Kaardal and Elizabeth Nielsen, and Mohrman, Kaardal & Erickson, P.A.
- Mohrman, Kaardal & Erickson
Organization link published on the live project page.
The public page lists the project as active and the next milestone as phase 1. It describes a federal complaint as being filed. It does not report a docket number or a court ruling.