House GOP To Investigate Canvassers' Denial Of Voter ID Proposal

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 08/26/2027) House Republicans voted 57-41 today to create a select committee investigating how the state reviewed petitions for the Americans for Citizen Voting ballot proposal.

Under HR 350, the committee will consist of seven members appointed by the Speaker, with five Republican members and two Democratic members.

The House votes on a resolution creating a new select committee to investigate the review process for the Americans for Citizen Voting petition.

The House votes on a resolution creating a new select committee to investigate the review process for the Americans for Citizen Voting petition.

Republican Majority Whip Rep. Mike Harris (R-Clarkston) was appointed as chair alongside Vice Chair Bryan Posthumus (R-Rockford) with Reps. Ann Bollin (R-Brighton), Jason Woolford (R-Howell), Rachelle Smit (R-Shelbyville), Mai Xiong (D-Warren) and Denise Mentzer (D-Mount Clemens).

The Americans for Citizen Voting proposal, which would require photo identification to vote and proof of citizenship to register, submitted 709,841 signatures but failed to qualify for the November ballot after the state reviewed a 1,000-signature sample.

Republicans and supporters of the proposal have questioned how that sample was reviewed and how challenges to individual signatures were handled.

“The State Board of Canvassers made a decision that rejected the concerns of hundreds of thousands of Michiganders; that much cannot be disputed,” Harris said in a statement. “As a committee, our job is to understand how the 1,000 signatures are ‘randomly’ selected.

"Are there potential biases by the people reviewing the signatures? More so, what policy recommendations can we derive from this process? Should the sample of signatures be expanded? What can we do to make this process better, so the expectations are clear and understandable for everyone involved?" he added.

Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) said during his press conference today that it became apparent after the blocked proposal that they needed a select committee to look into the Bureau of Elections' petition-review process and the Board of State Canvassers' handling of ballot proposals. He said it's become a pattern for the bureau and that it appears to be “one-sided.”

“Whenever a Republican-affiliated group submits something on the ballot, it takes months and months and months to review it, and then they always figure out a way to disqualify it,” Hall said. “If it's a Democrat group, they review it much quicker, and they always find a way to approve it even if it's suspect.”

He also said that they “initially approved it” until they went into the back room with attorney Mark Brewer to then come out and reject it after they're "pressured by the Democratic attorney.”

“It's my understanding that Jocelyn Benson instructed clerks to not check signatures on absentee ballots against the qualified voter file,” Hall said. “And my understanding is they were working all through the weekend trying to find more signatures to invalidate. I mean, it's ridiculous what they do."

House Democrats declined to respond.

The select committee is expected to begin its work in the coming weeks. The resolution gives the committee subpoena power, a reporting deadline and the authority to compel testimony.