Citizens Only Voting Saga

This path is closed for November 3, 2026.

Hours after Justice Kavanaugh denied the emergency application in 26A275, the Michigan Supreme Court denied mandamus in MSC No. 170595, Americans for Citizen Voting–Michigan v. Board of State Canvassers. The order says plaintiffs are not entitled to mandamus because the Board’s signature decisions were discretionary, not a ministerial duty the Court can command.

What that means

• Federal emergency injunction: denied (unexplained Circuit Justice order; not referred to the full Court).
• State mandamus: denied.
• The measure is not on the November 3 ballot.

The Board of State Canvassers’ scheduled Friday, September 4 meeting was canceled. With both courts closed and the statutory ballot-lock window passed, there is no remaining legal route to restore the amendment for this election.

How it ended on the numbers

Item	Number
Signatures submitted (March 4, 2026)	709,841
Valid signatures required	446,198
Sample size	1,000
Valid signatures needed in the sample	629
Valid after the Aug. 24 canvass	626
Margin	three short
Board vote	2–2 deadlock

The Board accepted 14 of 23 rehabilitating affidavits. Several others were rejected or deadlocked, including affidavits the members generally agreed would have counted but for a 48-hour cutoff. All seven justices upheld that cutoff. Justice Zahra, the lone conservative, would have sent four timely-but-rejected affidavits back for another look. That was not a majority.

The Court told the Legislature it can amend MCL 168.476 to set real audit deadlines, decide when affidavits must be considered, and make judicial review possible before a ballot is locked. That is a policy fight for Lansing, not a substitute for this cycle.

What is not decided

Neither court ruled on whether citizen-only voting or photo ID is good policy. Kavanaugh’s order is not a merits holding on the amendment. The Michigan Supreme Court held only that it would not force the Board to certify.

Americans for Citizen Voting has said it will try again for 2028. A 2028 placement would push implementation later still. For November 2026, Michigan voters will see the automatic constitutional-convention question and the “Money Out of Politics” proposal — not citizenship verification.

Where things stand

• Emergency application 26A275: denied
• MSC 170595: relief denied
• November 3, 2026 ballot: the measure is off
• Next realistic cycle: 2028, unless the Legislature writes clearer canvass rules first

The process problem remains: more than 700,000 signatures lived or died on a 1,000-signature sample, a 2–2 partisan tie, withheld comparison records, and a court that treated the Board’s choices as discretionary after the statutory “highest priority” clock had already run out.

Justice Kavanaugh denied the emergency application in 26A275. That was the request for a U.S. Supreme Court order putting the citizenship-verification initiative on Michigan’s November 3 ballot before the Board of State Canvassers finalizes the ballot.

What this denial means

The federal emergency path failed. The Court did not order the measure onto the ballot. This is a denial of an injunction pending appeal by the Circuit Justice. It is not a merits ruling on the amendment itself.

Practically, this is the result the sponsors needed to avoid. The Board still meets Friday, September 4 at 10:00 a.m. Once absentee printing starts, there is no realistic way to restore the measure for November 2026.

The same-day amicus brief from the Initiative and Referendum Institute did not change the outcome. That brief argued the Michigan count was part of a national pattern of opaque initiative administration — withheld comparison records and uneven timing rules — and that the public-interest balance cuts one way: print the measure and let voters decide.

What is still open

The Michigan Supreme Court case is separate. MSC No. 170595, Americans for Citizen Voting v. Board of State Canvassers, was filed August 27, 2026. The public docket still lists it as having order(s) on file. Search it here: Michigan Courts case search.

Kavanaugh’s denial does not close that state case. If Lansing acts after the ballot is locked, it is almost certainly too late for this election.

Where things stand tonight

• Emergency application: denied
• State mandamus case: still pending
• Board of State Canvassers: Friday, September 4, 10:00 a.m.

Unless the Michigan Supreme Court or the Board itself puts the measure on the ballot before that meeting, it is off for November. We will send another note if there is an order from Lansing.

The Initiative and Referendum Institute filed an amicus brief today in the U.S. Supreme Court in support of Americans for Citizen Voting–Michigan and voter Fred Smith. The Institute is a nonpartisan group that studies and defends the initiative process. Counsel of record is Michael F. Smith of The Smith Appellate Law Firm.

This is not a brief about whether you like the amendment. It is about whether a qualifying citizen initiative can be kept off the ballot by an opaque count.

What the brief tells the Court

The Institute asks Justice Kavanaugh to grant the emergency injunction and put the measure on the November 3 ballot pending further proceedings. Its core point: Michigan’s handling of this petition is part of a national pattern of administrative obstruction of citizen initiatives — undisclosed comparison records, shifting deadlines, and standards sponsors and signers cannot see or contest.

On the Michigan facts, the brief highlights two process problems already in this saga:

1. No access to the comparison file. The Board refused access to the Qualified Voter File signature images used to invalidate sampled signatures (the brief cites 94 such invalidations).
2. Uneven timing rules. A 48-hour submission rule was applied to exclude sworn signer affidavits, while a challenger’s untimely filing was excused.

The Institute’s line is worth quoting because it matches what we have said from the start: this is “a due-process and equal-protection problem of national dimension, not a one-off disagreement about nine affidavits in Michigan.”

Why they say the public interest cuts one way

More than 20 states, including Michigan, reserve to the people the power to legislate directly. The brief argues the harm is one-sided: if the measure is printed and voters reject it, nothing is lost; if it is locked off the ballot on September 4, the opportunity is gone with no practical remedy. “A sponsor cannot design around a standard it is not permitted to see, and a voter cannot correct a rejection whose grounds are never disclosed.”

Where things stand tonight

• Emergency application, state opposition, applicants’ reply, and now this amicus brief are all on the 26A275 docket.
• Counsel asked the Court to act no later than today, September 3.
• The Board of State Canvassers still meets Friday, September 4 at 10:00 a.m. to finalize the ballot. That remains the practical deadline.

We will send another note as soon as there is an order.

Applicants – Americans for Citizen Voting–Michigan and Fred Smith – filed their reply in the U.S. Supreme Court this evening. The brief answers the State’s opposition and responds to amici. Docket: 26A275. Reply PDF: Applicants’ Reply and Response (Sept. 2, 2026).

The reply’s core points:

• The emergency exists because the State took 5½ months to review 1,000 of more than 700,000 signatures, then gave the campaign almost no time to cure.
• Officials asked for sworn, notarized affidavits to fix QVF signature mismatches, then rejected those same affidavits at the August 24 Board meeting.
• The Board accepted late challenges against the petition while treating voter affidavits as untimely — unequal treatment of similarly situated parties.
• The “Money Out of Politics” petition received a faster staff review and a 3–1 certification. This petition received a 2–2 deadlock and was kept off the ballot.
• Michigan law (MCL 168.479(2)) requires the Michigan Supreme Court to give a challenge to a Board declaration on an initiative petition the highest priority. That court has not scheduled argument, requested a response, or issued any order. Applicants treat that silence as a constructive denial given the September 4 ballot lock.
• Once the Board finalizes the ballot Friday morning and absentee printing begins, there is no practical way to restore the measure to the November 3 ballot. A 2028 placement would push implementation to 2030.
• Applicants ask Justice Kavanaugh / the Court to act by September 3 so the measure can still be placed on the printed ballot.

The papers are now complete before the Circuit Justice. Watch for an order before the Board of State Canvassers meets Friday, September 4 at 10:00 a.m.

Michigan officials filed their opposition today in the U.S. Supreme Court to the emergency request to put the Citizen Voting amendment on the November ballot. The state submitted a lengthy brief and two large exhibit volumes. Record-building or intended to swamp review? The Court now has the papers; any order placing the measure on the printed ballot would need to come before that meeting.

Justice Kavanaugh requests response, due by Noon (EDT), on September 2, 2026

This is a follow-up to our earlier note on the Citizens Only Voting amendment being kept off the November ballot.

Where things stand as of August 31, 2026

Americans for Citizen Voting–Michigan (ACVM) has now filed an emergency application with the U.S. Supreme Court asking for an injunction to place the amendment on Michigan’s November 3, 2026 ballot. The application is pending before Justice Kavanaugh as Circuit Justice for the Sixth Circuit. Counsel asked the Court to act no later than Thursday, September 3.

The Michigan Board of State Canvassers is scheduled to meet Friday, September 4 at 10:00 a.m. to finalize the ballot. That is the practical deadline.

Emergency application (PDF):
https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/americans-citizen-voting-michigan-emergency-app-scotus.pdf

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How we got here

Item	Number
Signatures submitted (March 4, 2026)	709,841
Valid signatures required	446,198
Sample size reviewed	1,000
Valid signatures needed in the sample	629
Valid signatures found after the Aug. 24 canvass	626
Margin	three short

After a roughly seven-hour Board of State Canvassers meeting on Monday, August 24, the board deadlocked 2–2 on party lines. Because a tie is not a majority to certify, the measure was kept off the ballot.

Weeks earlier, that same board certified the “Money Out of Politics” petition 3–1.

You do not have to support the amendment to see the problem: more than 700,000 petition signatures should not live or die on a 1,000-signature sample and a tie vote.

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Michigan Supreme Court

ACVM filed for mandamus and related relief in the Michigan Supreme Court on Thursday, August 27 (reported as Case No. 170595).

Michigan law is not ambiguous. MCL 168.479(2) says a legal challenge to the Board’s declaration on an initiative petition:

“has the highest priority and shall be advanced on the supreme court docket so as to provide for the earliest possible disposition.”

As of this writing, the Michigan Supreme Court has taken no action — not even a request for a response from the Board, the Secretary of State, or the Director of Elections. The campaign’s SCOTUS filing treats that silence as a constructive denial of relief, given the September 4 ballot deadline.

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What the SCOTUS filing argues

The applicants (ACVM and voter Fred Smith) ask the U.S. Supreme Court to order the measure onto the ballot pending further proceedings. Core claims include:

1. Delay. Signatures were submitted March 4 — more than four months before the July 6 filing deadline. Staff review of 1,000 signatures stretched into mid-August, leaving almost no time to cure challenged signatures before the canvass.
2. Rejected affidavits. Several signers submitted sworn, notarized affidavits confirming they signed the petition. The Board still treated those signatures as invalid.
3. No access to the comparison file. Campaign lawyers say they were denied the ability to review the Qualified Voter File signature images used to reject sampled signatures.
4. Uneven rules. They allege late challenges were accepted while voter affidavits were rejected as untimely, and that similar close-call petitions have been treated differently.
5. Irreparable harm. Once the September 4 ballot is locked and absentee printing begins, there is no practical way to restore the petition to the November ballot.

The amendment itself would require citizenship verification for voters, documentation of that verification, removal of non-citizens from the voter file after notice, and photo ID / related ID rules for voting, including absentee voting.

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Key dates

• March 4, 2026 — 709,841 signatures submitted
• August 24 — Board deadlocks 2–2 after ~7-hour review
• August 27 — Mandamus filed in Michigan Supreme Court
• August 30–31 — Emergency application filed at U.S. Supreme Court
• September 2 — State opposition filed; Applicants’ reply filed the same day
• September 3 — Date by which applicants asked SCOTUS to act
• September 4, 10:00 a.m. — Board of State Canvassers meeting to finalize the ballot
• November 3 — General election

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What we are asking

1. Share this update with your lists, families, neighbors, etc.
2. Watch for a SCOTUS order and the September 4 Board meeting.
3. If you speak with legislators or the press, keep the focus on process: volume of signatures, sample size, the 2–2 deadlock, the statutory “highest priority” duty, and the Court’s silence.

We will send another note as soon as there is a ruling.