The campaign to expand Michigan’s civil right law to include protections for LGBTQ people has been given more time to prove it’s gathered enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.
The Fair and Equal Michigan campaign is challenging a finding by the state elections bureau that it fell short of the required number of signatures. The campaign says the bureau wrongly excluded many signatures of voters and sometimes entire sheets of petition signatures.
The board agreed the campaign deserves more time.
“What essentially happens next is a bunch of election geeks get in a room, the staff at the bureau, lawyers for both Fair and Equal Michigan and the opponents and hash out what we believe make the case for what is and isn’t a valid signature,” said Fair and Equal Michigan attorney Steven Liedel.
Campaign chair Trevor Thomas said Fair and Equal Michigan was given only two days notice of the finding and deserves more time.
“We are laser-focused on making sure that Fair and Equal Michigan has a fair shot to the ballot,” he said following the meeting.
The Michigan Board of State Canvassers agreed to an extension and will make a determination at its July 26th meeting.
