If you attend festivals, concerts, farmers markets or other public events in Michigan this summer you may encounter petition circulators asking for your signature. Petition drives are underway or could be soon for at least six proposals looking for a spot on the 2026 ballot that could change laws or the state constitution.
Be sure to read any petition put in front of you as Michigan law does not require circulators to provide an accurate verbal description.
Petition proposals approved for circulation by the Bureau of Elections include:
- Rank MI Vote: Ranked choice voting
- Invest in MI Kids: Taxing high income earners to fund schools
- Voters to Stop Pay Cuts: Repealing recent changes to Michigan’s minimum and tipped wage laws
- AxMITax: Eliminating all property taxes in Michigan
- Committee to Protect Voters Rights: Require proof of citizenship to register to vote and tighten voter ID rules
- Americans for Citizen Voting: Require proof of citizenship to register to vote and tighten voter ID rules.
Rank MI Vote
How Michiganders choose many of their elected officials would change with ranked choice voting. Voters would cast ballots ranking candidates in order of preference. Only voters’ top choice would be counted first. If no candidate has an immediate majority, the candidate with the least votes would be eliminated. All the voters who chose the eliminated candidate would then have their second-place votes distributed to the remaining contestants. The process would continue until one candidate has more than 50% of the vote.
Important to Know:
Ranked choice voting would be used in Michigan’s congressional and presidential primary and general elections, the primary for governor, and the general elections for governor, secretary of state and attorney general. The Michigan Legislature would be excluded, and local offices could opt out.
Invest in MI Kids
The organizers of the Invest in My Kids initiative want to boost funding for struggling public schools statewide by raising taxes on individuals making more than $500,000 a year or couples making more than $1 million.
Important to Know:
The proposal would impose an additional 5% tax on any income that exceeds those $500,000 or $1 million thresholds. According to the state constitution, Michigan has a flat tax of 4.25% on all income, so this proposal would require an amendment.
Voters to Stop Pay Cuts
In February 2025 the Legislature revised the state’s $12.48 minimum wage law so it will hit $15 by 2027 and increase with inflation. This repeal proposal would increase the minimum wage rate more slowly, raising it to $14.97 by 2028 and then rising with inflation. The biggest impact of the repeal proposal would be eliminating the state’s lower minimum wage for tipped workers, like those at restaurants. While current law would have the tipped worker wage of $4.74 rise to 50% of the minimum wage by 2031, the repeal proposal would have the tipped wage become 100% of the minimum wage by 2030 and rise alongside it.
AxMITax
This proposal would eliminate all property taxes in Michigan and make it harder to raise any other taxes in the future. After failing to make the ballot in 2024, organizers have begun circulating petitions without canvasser approval which may make it vulnerable to court challenges if enough signatures are collected to make the ballot.
Important to know:
Michigan property taxes are a significant source of revenue for schools and local governments. This petition would direct the state to send more sales tax revenue to local governments, along with more money from marijuana, alcohol and tobacco taxes.
Any future tax increases at the local level would require approval of 60% of voters while state tax increases would require two-thirds support in the Michigan Legislature.
Committee to Protect Voters Rights
In April, the state Board of Canvassers approved the first of two separate petitions that aim to require proof of citizenship to register to vote and tighten voter ID rules.
Voters would be required to present photo ID for in-person voting, eliminating the current option for voters with ID to sign an affidavit of identity under penalty of perjury. Lower income citizens could apply for a free ID by claiming a hardship under a process the state Legislature would establish.
Americans for Citizen Voting
In May, the state Board of Canvassers approved the summary for a second and separate petition that also aims to require proof of citizenship to register to vote and tighten voter ID rules.
Important to know:
The proposal requires the Secretary of State to verify citizenship of all registered voters, document citizenship and remove any noncitizens from the voter rolls.
The proposal would eliminate the affidavit option that allows voters without an ID to cast a ballot on Election Day. A hardship program would provide free IDs to citizens who cannot afford them.
New penalties would be established and could force Michigan to maintain two separate voter lists: One for voters who have proven their citizenship, and one for those who haven’t and could only vote in federal races.
Five of these six petitions represent proposed constitutional amendments that would need 446,198 signatures within 180 days to make the 2026 general election ballot. The petition for Voters to Stop Pay Cuts is a proposed state statute that would need 356,958 signatures from supporters within 180 days to make the 2026 general election ballot.
To read the full petition language and what supporters and opponents are saying about these petitions, read: https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-government/michigan-petition-summer-what-know-about-voting-tax-wage-proposals-you-sign?utm_source=Bridge+Michigan&utm_campaign=15919f065a-Bridge+Newsletter+06%2F30%2F2025&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c64a28dd5a-15919f065a-73893721
