LANSING — Citing an insufficient number of valid petition signatures, the Michigan Board of State Canvassers declined to certify a proposed constitutional amendment this week that would require voters’ U.S. citizenship to be verified before their ballots could be counted.

Americans for Citizen Voting–Michigan quickly threatened legal action to force state officials to place the proposed amendment on the November ballot. The group said it would challenge the canvassing board’s decision, which came after a clear partisan split: The board’s two Republican members supported certifying the proposal, while its two Democratic members opposed certification.

Before a packed meeting room and just 71 days before the general election, the board voted amid growing national attention to voting eligibility requirements. Republican President Trump has called on Congress to ensure that only U.S. citizens are permitted to vote. Michigan’s Democratic attorney general, Dana Nessel, also announced earlier this month that five noncitizens had been charged with allegedly voting in the 2024 presidential election.

The vote came at the end of a meeting that lasted nearly seven hours Monday and included the individual examination of dozens of disputed signatures.

The campaign submitted 709,841 signatures in an effort to reach the required threshold of 446,198 valid signatures needed to place a constitutional amendment on the statewide ballot.

The Bureau of Elections had selected a random sample of 1,000 signatures for review. At least 629 signatures from that sample needed to be deemed valid for the proposal to qualify. After Monday’s review, however, only 626 signatures were accepted — three short of the required threshold.

Republican board members Richard Houskamp and Paul Cordes voted to certify the proposal for the ballot. Democratic members Heather Cummings and Mary Ellen Gurewitz opposed certification.

In response, Americans for Citizen Voting–Michigan Chairman Paul Jacob vowed to take the matter to court.

“We’re not giving up,” Jacob told reporters in downtown Lansing. “You can’t cheat the people of Michigan and get away with it.

“We’re going to be back, we’re going to go to every court we have to go to,” he added. “You’re not going to get away with this one.”

Dozens of signatures in the selected sample were excluded for various reasons, including that the signers were not registered voters, petition sheets contained incorrect dates or individuals had signed the petition more than once.

Much of Monday’s discussion centered on five signatures deemed invalid even though the people who submitted them later provided sworn affidavits confirming that they had signed the petition and were qualified to do so.

The board’s Democratic members rejected the affidavits because they had been submitted after the board’s deadline for filing challenges.

“I have a problem with that,” Houskamp said about the decision not to count the five signatures.

According to a campaign finance disclosure, Americans for Citizen Voting–Michigan had spent approximately $9.1 million on the effort as of July 20.

The proposed amendment would prohibit local clerks from counting provisional ballots cast by voters whose citizenship had not been verified unless those voters provided documentary proof of citizenship within six days after the election.

Voters could establish their citizenship by presenting a U.S. passport, birth certificate or other qualifying documentation.

The proposed constitutional amendment would also require voters to present photo identification and eliminate the current option allowing voters without photo ID to sign an affidavit attesting to their identity.

It would also create a state-funded hardship program for people unable to afford the documents needed to obtain photo identification.