LANSING – A legislative initiative to explicitly include LGBTQ protections in Michigan’s civil rights law appears to have too few signatures and should not be certified, the Michigan Bureau of Elections said in a report released Thursday.
The Board of State Canvassers is to consider the recommendation at a meeting Tuesday.
The apparent signature shortfall is the latest setback in efforts to explicitly include LGBTQ protections in Michigan's civil rights law.
Fair and Equal Michigan wants to add LGBTQ protections to the state's Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act.
Doing so by legislative initiative requires just over 340,000 valid signatures. If the Legislature did not act on the certified petition, the question would go to the ballot.
But the Bureau of Elections, based on samples it scrutinized of the signatures submitted, estimates the group only collected about 299,000 valid signatures.
"Staff recommends that the board decline to certify the petition," the report said.
Josh Hovey, a spokesman for Fair and Equal Michigan, said the bureau is proposing to throw out thousands of valid signatures.
"We will fight for every valid signature so no voters are disenfranchised," Hovey said.
It is the latest setback in a years-long efforts to enshrine civil rights protections for Michigan's LGBTQ residents.
Legislative efforts have generally hit a roadblock when Republicans who control the House and Senate have insisted that any such amendments to the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act be coupled with religious freedom legislation that would exempt, for example, bakers who say they do not want to bake wedding cakes for gay couples, for religious reasons.
There have also been differences of opinion about whether the existing law covers LGBTQ protections by banning discrimination on the basis of sex.
On July 2, the Michigan Supreme Court agreed to hear a case that hinges on that question. The state's highest court said it will allow the Michigan Department of Civil Rights appeal to bypass the Michigan Court of Appeals in a case earlier decided by the Michigan Court of Claims.
Fair and Equal Michigan spent more than $2.9 million on the petition drive, according to state campaign finance records.
The report from the Bureau of Elections cited numerous problems with the petitions, including errors made by the petition circulators, signers who could not be verified as registered voters, and invalid electronic signatures.
Hovey said the bureau has failed to establish "standards for determining the validity of petition signatures," as called for by the Legislature.
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