Michigan voters could get vote on restrictions for money in politics as measure qualifies - EUROPE SAYS
LANSING, Mich. — Millions of dollars are being spent in this 2026 election cycle in Michigan, with candidates and other groups seeking to reach voters and attack their opponents. Money in politics has been a. . .
LANSING, Mich. — Millions of dollars are being spent in this 2026 election cycle in Michigan, with candidates and other groups seeking to reach voters and attack their opponents. Money in politics has been a top issue in the Democratic U. S. Senate primary and concerns have also been raised by Republican Perry Johnson in the primary for Michigan governor. The influence of that money could soon come to an end, however, as voters may get the chance to restrict the money being spent on politics. Friday, the State Board of Canvassers ruled 3 -1 that the “Michiganders for Money Out of Politics” (MMOP) initiative had enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot. “We are one step closer to making sure that voters in November, regular Michiganders, are the ones that are going to ultimately decide whether or not we are still gonna have the kind of money that this would ban out of our state politics,” Christy McGillivray, campaign co-chair of MMOP, said. The measure would bar utilities, state contractors with over $250,000 in annual government contracts and people and organizations with substantial connections to them from giving money to campaigns. It would also institute new requirements for disclosing donor information on political ads. “It puts voters in the driver’s seat of what politicians should be prioritizing when they get to Lansing,” McGillivray said. “That’s why it has such popular support, regardless of which political party people belong to. ”More than 561 thousand signatures were gathered, though canvassers only sampled a thousand. A few hundred were thrown out for errors, and by the end of an hours-long process, the proposal was just nine signatures over the rejection threshold. “Protect MI Free Speech’ opposes the effort and challenged many of the signatures. “We do have legal options available to us to appeal and we may pursue those and we’re gonna make that decision probably sometime this week,” John Sellek, spokesman for Protect MI Free Speech, said. The ballot initiative’s supporters believe it can survive a lawsuit. Even still, Sellek warns the the effort could have unintended consequences. “A regular Michigan family member of somebody who works at one of these companies can no longer participate, somebody who lives here and pays taxes here and has kids in school here, and has a vested stake in the future of Michigan, they’ll be banned from participating,” Sellek said. “It’s hard to get your mind around that, yet an out-of-state billionaire who decides, ‘I’m gonna write a huge check to influence what happens here,’ they can do whatever they want. ”The legislature has just under forty days to decide whether they want to weigh in, before the initiative automatically appears on the November ballot. There are similar bills in both chambers, and there has been some talk of action, but lawmakers remain in recess. Tags:americageopoliticsPoliticsUnited Statesunited states of americaUnited States PoliticsUSUS PoliticsUSAusa politics