Updates About Elections

Representatives Lori Stone (D-Warren) and Kevin Coleman (D-Westland) both won their respective mayoral elections on Tuesday, November 7. The two local elections will impact the Michigan House as it creates an even split of 54 Democrat to 54 Republican seats. The two Representatives will soon resign from their current positions as they transition to their new roles as Mayor. In response to the loss of two Michigan Representatives, the Governor will hold special elections for the open seats. Amid the change, Representative Joe Tate (D-Detroit) will continue to act as the Speaker of the House for the remainder of the term. The requirement that legislation must by approved by a majority adds a layer of complexity in the now evenly split Michigan House.

In other election news, Michigan voters in Kalamazoo, East Lansing, and Royal Oak all voted for ranked choice voting for municipal elections. Ranked choice voting allows voters to rank their preferred candidates, meaning the top two candidates would ultimately receive all of the votes without splitting the votes three ways. Although the state does not allow ranked choice voting at a municipal level, there have been efforts in the past to change this voting system. Ann Arbor has previously voted for ranked choice voting as well.

The eight marijuana proposals were not favored by voters in the November 2023 elections. Most of the marijuana business proposals were concentrated in Oakland County, including Rochester and Birmingham. Voters rejected marijuana business to establish and build their facilities. Yale and Gross Pointe Park also voted against the establishment of marijuana centers.

Two lawsuits have been filed regarding Former President Donald Trump’s qualifications to be included in Michigan’s presidential ballot in the upcoming 2024 election. The question in both suits surrounds the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which disqualifies anyone who has engaged in insurrection from holding federal office.

Similar suits have been filed in Minnesota and Colorado, attempting to clarify the issue in advance of the 2024 election. It is expected that Judge James Robert Redford will make his decision quickly, but that the issue will be appealed and ultimately decided by the US Supreme Court.

Trump originally attempted to personally intervene in a lawsuit filed by Free Speech for People asking the court to prohibit Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson from including him on Michigan’s presidential ballot, but when denied, he filed his own lawsuit asking the court to require his inclusion on the ballot.

In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the “independent state legislature theory” in Moore v. Harper.

The case stems from North Carolina’s most-recently drawn congressional map, which was argued to be racially gerrymandered. The North Carolina Supreme Court had ruled that the map was in violation of the state’s constitution, but others argued that the independent state legislature theory allowed the map to be valid. This theory asserts that state legislatures have sole authority to establish federal election laws without review by courts or governors.

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson issued a statement on the Supreme Court’s decision, stating it was a “victory for Michigan’s citizen-led and voter-enacted independent redistricting process”.