Michigan Prop 2 Would Outlaw Tighter Voter ID Rules Forever

Say goodbye to strong voter ID requirements if Michigan’s Proposal 2 passes this November.

The left-wing ballot initiative would effectively do away with voter ID requirements by enshrining into Michigan’s constitution the right of voters to submit signed affidavits instead of photo identification to cast a ballot. This means future photo ID legislation, such as Secure MI Vote, would be unconstitutional for Michigan lawmakers to pass. While Democrats claim Prop 2 preserves voter ID because it doesn’t outright ban it, they fail to mention that stricter photo ID requirements could never be adopted if Prop 2 passes.

Prop 2 was designed to mislead voters into thinking they are preserving voter ID, when in reality they are ensuring Michiganders will never be required to show a photo ID to cast a ballot ever again, according to Jason Snead, executive director of the Honest Elections Project.

“Supporters of Proposal 2 are gaslighting Michiganders by claiming the measure preservers voter ID. That’s a lie. Proposal 2 would allow voters to simply sign a piece of paper and vote without ever showing an ID,” Snead told The Federalist. “We think people should know the truth about what they are voting on, and the supporters of Proposal 2 are misleading Michigan because they know photo ID is too popular to oppose.”

Requiring photo identification to vote is overwhelmingly popular across the American electorate. According to a Monmouth University poll, 80 percent of respondents said they support laws requiring photo identification to submit a ballot. More than 500,000 Michiganders also signed a petition for the Michigan legislature to enact a true photo ID requirement for in-person and mail-in voting.

Promote the Vote, the campaign behind Proposal 2, “is trying desperately to block that law, which could be adopted without a governor’s signature,” Snead said.

[READ: Conservatives Can’t Let Democrats’ Midterm Assault On Kids And Elections Fall Through The Cracks In Michigan]

Removing voter ID requirements is just one aspect of Proposal 2, a radical ballot initiative meant to overhaul Michigan’s elections in a number of ways. As previously reported, the proposed constitutional amendment would allow for nine days of early voting; require state-funded absentee ballot drop boxes; give voters a “right” to request an absentee ballot, thus retaining mass mail-in balloting, the least secure form of conducting elections; allow private, outside donations to fund elections (think Zuckbucks 2.0); and divest local canvassing boards of their authority to conduct election audits. Instead, that power would be reserved for Michigan’s secretary of state, Democratic activist Jocelyn Benson).

Think of it as the state version of Democrats’ ill-fated HR 1, a progressive power-grab aimed at federalizing state and local elections and doing away with most election-related safeguards. It didn’t pass.

Now Democrats are focused on taking their overhaul of America’s election processes to the states themselves. Michigan is their first attempt after a similar initiative in Arizona failed to make the November ballot.

As Michigan already suffers from lax election laws and notoriously corrupt election officials like Benson, Prop 2 would make those bad things irreversible — a huge threat to the integrity of elections in the Big Lakes State.


Victoria Marshall is a staff writer at The Federalist. Her writing has been featured in the New York Post, National Review, and Townhall. She graduated from Hillsdale College in May 2021 with a major in politics and a minor in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @vemrshll.

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