The Americans for Citizen Voting initiative is hanging by a thread

TL;DR
Email the Board of State Canvassers by 5:00 p.m. tomorrow (Thursday, Aug 20). Scroll all the way to the bottom for 4 ready-to-copy sample emails — just add your name + city and/or township and hit send.

Patriot,

We’ve got a real problem on our hands and the clock is ticking.

What we need from you

1. Shoot a short email to the Board of State Canvassers before 5:00 p.m. tomorrow (Thursday, August 20), and/or
2. Show up in person at their meeting Monday, August 24 at 10:00 a.m.

Why this matters

On Monday the Board of State Canvassers is going to vote on whether to accept the signatures for the Americans for Citizen Voting constitutional amendment so it can appear on the November 2026 ballot.

Remember back in March we turned in 709,841 signatures — that’s 263,643 more than the law requires. The Board only looked at a tiny sample of 1,000 signatures (literally 0.0014% of what we collected) and somehow decided it wasn’t enough.

On August 17 their own staff recommended the Board reject the signatures.

If they do certify them, they’ll also decide whether to approve the 100-word summary that will actually appear on the ballot (you’ll find that language lower down).

This feels like a clear attempt to shut the process down at the last minute. We’re not okay with that.

Exactly what to do

1. Email them right away
Write a short note supporting certification of the signatures and raise any concerns you have about how the verification was handled.
Deadline: 5:00 p.m. ET, Thursday, August 20
Send it to: MDOS-Canvassers@Michigan.gov

2. Come to the meeting if you can
Monday, August 24, 10:00 a.m.
Binsfeld Office Building, Room 1100
201 Townsend Street, Lansing, MI 48933

Public comment is at the end of the meeting. Even if you only get a couple of minutes, a room full of people who care sends a loud message.

PIME’s advice: the written comments by Thursday are the highest-impact thing most of us can do. If you can make it to Lansing on Monday too, even better.

A few points worth mentioning in your email

• The signatures were turned in way back in March. It feels like the whole process has been dragged out on purpose so any final decision happens under intense time pressure and there’s almost no room left to fix problems.
• Nobody can tell if the signatures they checked were actually picked at random. The selection method is completely opaque and was run by a private company using their own custom software.
• Even if someone files a FOIA request to look at the signatures they rejected, regular people have no realistic way to double-check whether those signatures really don’t match. Staff’s word is basically final and there’s no independent review of how they reached their conclusions.
• Always include the city and/or township you live in so they know you’re a Michigan resident.

A lot of you spent weeks and months collecting these signatures. We came in way over the required number. Let’s not let this get quietly killed now.

Speak up now!

Official ballot summary language they’re considering

Proposal 26-2

A proposal to amend the state constitution to require citizenship verification for all registered voters, require showing a document proving citizenship to register to vote, and to change photo ID requirements for voting.

This proposed constitutional amendment would:

• Require citizenship verification through statewide program, document submission, or provisional voting.
• Require removing noncitizens after notice and 45-day rebuttal.
• Require showing birth certificate, passport, and/or other citizenship documents to register.
• Require separately tracking eligibility for federal/state/local elections.
• Prohibit counting ballots from voters with unverified citizenship unless documents shown within 6 days post-election.
• Eliminate affidavit alternative for voters without photo-ID.
• Require photo-ID, or driver’s license or partial social security number to vote absentee.
• Require state-funded hardship program for obtaining required documents.
• Subject violators to $1,000 fine and/or up to 5 years imprisonment.

Should this proposal be adopted?
[ ] Yes
[ ] No

If you can chip in a few dollars so we can keep getting these alerts out and educating more people, it really helps:

DONATE

Thanks for stepping up. Let’s make some noise.

Here are four ready-to-copy-and-paste email bodies, making it easy to send to MDOS-Canvassers@Michigan.gov.

Use the subject RE: Proposal 26-2.

Each one includes all four recommended points, supports certification of the signatures, and has clear placeholders for your name and city/township of residence.

Email Version 1 (Clear & Direct)

Dear Board of State Canvassers,

I am writing to urge you to certify the signatures submitted for the Americans for Citizen Voting constitutional amendment.

Signatures were turned in back in March. Concerns have been raised that the process has been slow-walked so that decisions would be made at the last minute, leaving little or no time for meaningful remedies.

It is not clear that the signatures selected for verification were chosen randomly. There has been no transparency regarding the selection process, which was handled by a third-party vendor using a custom-designed computer program.

Even if supporters file Freedom of Information Act requests to review the signatures flagged as invalid, ordinary citizens have no practical way to verify whether those signatures actually fail to match. The staff’s determination appears to be the final word, with no real opportunity for independent review of their methods.

Please certify these signatures so the people of Michigan can vote on this important proposal.

Sincerely,
[Your Full Name]
[Your City/Township], Michigan

Email Version 2 (Slightly More Formal)

Dear Members of the Board of State Canvassers,

I respectfully request that the Board certify the signatures for the Americans for Citizen Voting ballot initiative.

The signatures were submitted in March. There have been legitimate concerns that the proposal has been deliberately delayed so that any final decisions would occur under severe time pressure, making effective remedies difficult or impossible.

Additionally, it remains unclear whether the sample of signatures chosen for verification was truly random. The selection process lacks transparency and is controlled by a third-party vendor operating a proprietary computer program.

While Freedom of Information Act requests may allow limited access to the signatures deemed problematic, the public has no realistic ability to independently compare and verify those signatures. The staff assessment currently stands as the final authority with no meaningful external review of the methodology used.

I urge you to approve certification of the signatures.

Respectfully,
[Your Full Name]
Resident of [Your City/Township], Michigan

Email Version 3 (Stronger Tone)

Dear Board of State Canvassers,

I am writing as a Michigan resident to strongly urge you to certify the signatures collected for the Americans for Citizen Voting constitutional amendment.

These signatures were submitted in March. Many of us are concerned that the process has been slow-walked intentionally so that critical decisions would be forced into a last-minute timeframe, effectively cutting off any realistic chance for corrective action.

There is also serious doubt about whether the signatures pulled for verification were selected randomly. The public has been given no transparency into the selection process, which was conducted by a third-party vendor using a custom computer program.

Even if citizens submit FOIA requests to examine the signatures marked invalid, we have no practical way to confirm whether those signatures actually fail to match. The staff’s judgment is treated as final, leaving no opportunity for independent scrutiny of their methods.

Please do the right thing and certify these signatures.

Sincerely,
[Your Full Name]
[Your City/Township], MI

Email Version 4 (Concise & Personal)

Dear Board of State Canvassers,

I support full certification of the signatures for the Americans for Citizen Voting initiative and ask that you approve them.

The signatures were submitted in March, yet concerns persist that the process has been slowed deliberately so decisions would come at the last possible moment, leaving little room for remedies.

It is not evident that the signatures chosen for checking were selected at random. The selection process has lacked transparency and was managed by a third-party vendor with a custom-designed computer program.

Although FOIA requests can be filed to view the signatures flagged as problems, ordinary citizens still cannot independently verify whether those signatures truly do not match. The staff’s findings appear to be the last word, without any chance for the public to review the methods used.

Please certify the signatures so Michigan voters can decide this issue for themselves.

Thank you,
[Your Full Name]
[Your City/Township], Michigan