LANSING — Voters across Michigan will decide two statewide ballot proposals in the November 3 election: An automatic, periodic question on whether to convene a constitutional convention and a citizen-initiated measure seeking to prohibit political contributions from regulated utilities and major government contractors.

A third proposed constitutional amendment that would have required proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote will not appear on the ballot after state election officials and the courts declined to certify it.

Proposal 1: Constitutional convention

Proposal 1 is a question automatically placed before Michigan voters every 16 years under Article XII, Section 3 of the Michigan Constitution. It asks whether the state should convene a constitutional convention to consider revising Michigan’s Constitution.

Michigan voters last considered the question in 2010, when 66.6 percent voted against holding a convention.

A “yes” vote would initiate the process of convening a constitutional convention. Delegates would subsequently be elected, and any constitutional changes approved by the convention would still have to be submitted to Michigan voters for ratification.

Michigan is among a small number of states whose constitutions automatically require voters to consider holding a constitutional convention at regular intervals, rather than waiting for a legislative or citizen initiative.

Michigan voters have rejected the convention question each time it has appeared since the state’s current Constitution was adopted in 1963. The question has appeared on the ballot every 16 years since 1978. Opponents have organized a coalition urging voters to reject Proposal 1, citing the potential cost and uncertainty of opening the Constitution to broad revisions.

Proposal 2: Restrictions on political contributions

Proposal 2 asks voters whether political contributions should be restricted from regulated monopoly utilities, including companies such as DTE Energy and Consumers Energy, and businesses holding large contracts with government agencies.

The proposal does not identify specific companies by name. Instead, its restrictions would apply to any company that holds — or is seeking — contracts worth more than $250,000 annually with the state or local governments.

The standard could cover more than 900 companies operating in a range of industries.

The prohibition would also extend to immediate family members and people or organizations with substantial connections to the affected companies.

Under the proposal, regulated electric and gas utilities, major government contractors and substantially connected individuals or organizations would be prohibited from making direct or indirect political contributions to candidates and officeholders who could affect their interests. The measure would also expand disclosure requirements for certain political advertisements. The Board of State Canvassers approved the proposal after Michiganders for Money Out of Politics submitted more than 560,000 petition signatures.

Proposal 2 secured enough valid signatures to reach the ballot and survived a final legal challenge seeking to exclude it from the November election.

Christy McGillivray, of the Michiganders for Money Out of Politics campaign, said the campaign’s next step would be organizing hundreds of events to discuss the initiative with voters.

“There is a lot of excitement about this kind of reform, and we know it will increase voter turnout,” McGillivray said.

Supporters say the proposal is intended primarily to combat so-called “pay-to-play” politics, which they characterize as advance bribes paid to elected officials.

Opponents argue that the campaign has not been sufficiently transparent about the full range of companies, individuals and organizations that could be affected by the prohibition.

“Our mission between now and November 3 is to educate people that this is not as simple as it appears on the surface,” said John Sellek, a spokesperson for the opposition campaign Protect MI Speech. “They need to understand all the pros and cons before voting on this issue in the fall.”

Third proposal excluded from the ballot

The third proposal, which collected hundreds of thousands of signatures but was not certified for the ballot, sought to amend the Michigan Constitution to require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote.

The Board of State Canvassers declined to certify the initiative after determining that its supporters had not submitted enough valid signatures. The Michigan Supreme Court subsequently declined to order election officials to place the proposal on the ballot, effectively ending the effort for 2026. Votebeat reported that the court concluded it did not have the authority to compel the canvassers to certify the measure.

Americans for Citizen Voting Michigan appealed to both the Michigan Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court in an effort to require state election officials to place the proposal on the ballot.

The campaign accused the Board of State Canvassers of politicizing its work after the panel’s two Democratic members opposed certification and its two Republican members supported it.

Supporters submitted more than 700,000 signatures, but the board deadlocked 2–2 after reviewing the validity of a sample of 1,000 signatures.

Paul Jacob, president of the campaign, said he believed the initiative had been treated unfairly.

“We can get into the fine details, but the bottom line is that enough registered Michigan voters signed this petition for it to be placed on the ballot,” Jacob said. “The problem is that we did not correct the mistakes made by the Board of State Canvassers quickly enough.”

Under the statistical sampling process used to examine the petitions, at least 629 signatures in the sample needed to be accepted as valid for the initiative to qualify.

The board’s two Democratic members ultimately recognized 626 signatures as valid — three fewer than the required minimum.

Jacob pledged to pursue the same proposal for the 2028 election, maintaining that voting should be limited exclusively to U.S. citizens.