BREAKING NEWS: Michigan’s elections board orders state to take a second look at signatures
Diocese of Saginaw
BREAKING NEWS: The Board of State Canvassers voted to allow our petition drive to end dismemberment abortions to be sampled again. Our concern that many signatures were thrown out for "damage" that weren't damaged was heeded!
— Right to Life of MI (@Right_to_Life) June 18, 2020
Text below was published on June 16, 2020
Regarding the statement below, please join us in praying that public officials decide justly and in defense of life. A decision may be made a soon as Thursday.
Statement from MCC regarding the Dismemberment Abortion Ban Petition
Michigan Catholic Conference is the official public policy voice of the Catholic Church in this state.
Lansing, Mich. (MCC) JUNE 15– Today the Michigan Bureau of Elections issued a staff report recommending that the Board of State Canvassers refuse to certify the Michigan Values Life petition drive to end dismemberment abortions. Their report claims there were not enough valid signatures in the sample of 500, suggesting we did not collect 340,047 valid signatures.
The following statement can be attributed to Right to Life of Michigan President Barbara Listing:
“We are extremely disappointed. We know we submitted signatures from more than 340,047 registered voters. We’re going to take our case to the Board of State Canvassers, which has the final say. This petition drive has been one uphill battle after another for more than a year now, but the fight is not over.
Of the signatures challenged by Planned Parenthood, we submitted enough counter challenges for a larger sample to be pulled to check our petition drive’s accuracy. Currently we are just three signatures short in the sample. We think reasonable people will agree that some of these challenged signatures are obviously good, and we hope the Board of State Canvassers will see that.”
# # # END OF MCC STATEMENT
The staff report from the Board of Canvassers may be viewed here: The report states "This staff report is being published on June 15, 2020, three business days prior to the June 18, 2020 meeting at which the Board of State Canvassers will consider the sufficiency of the Michigan Values Life petition in accordance with MCL 168.476(3) (“At least 2 business days before the board of state canvassers meets to make a final determination on challenges to and sufficiency of a petition, the bureau of elections shall make public its staff report concerning disposition of challenges filed against the petition.”).
