Tim Skubick

Even though the next election day is not until November 4, 2026, you might need to pack a lunch and maybe bring along a folding chair because you may be in the voting booth for longer than normal.

How’s that you say?

Well, start with the obvious. Virtually every statewide elective office is up for grabs including governor and the U.S. Senate seat. Every seat in congress and the Michigan House and senate are in play and now comes a baker’s half dozen of ballot proposals that may slow you down even more in the booth if they get to the ballot.

Here’s what we know for sure. Every 16 years, voters are asked if they want to rewrite the state constitution. This will be on the ballot because the constitution orders it. At first blush, the betting money is the Republicans will push hard for this hoping to rewrite the thing, including legalized abortion, Right to Work and who knows what all they could advance in a one-stop effort to undo all that the Democrats have gotten done in the last 16 years. Assume the D’s will fight mightily to reject this amendment. Speaking for himself before this party votes on this, Dem Party chair Curtis Hertel, Jr. will vote no calling the Con-Con “a disaster.”

The other five proposed ballot issues are if comes. If they get in the field and if they can get enough valid signatures, and if the courts don’t block any of them, these issues would be in play for you to decide. None of these are gathering signatures now, but the next time you go to a local fair or farmers market this summer, you might run into the petition hawkers. Be forewarned.

The topics include writing a new minimum wage law, ordering voters to present a picture ID/citizenship paper in order to vote (there are two of those in the works but only one is expected to emerge), same-sex marriage, cut property taxes, and two would- be plans to reform the K-12 school system.

Regarding the latter, former Gov. Rick Snyder is behind one of those school reform efforts. He is working to draft the language and then take it on the stump to sell to you. The other is that tax-the-rich to raise $1.7 billion for schools. They hope to be out there sometime in July.

The voting ID plans are near and dear to the hearts of lots of Republicans, especially those who firmly believe the current voting system is rigged in favor of the other guys and the only way to address is to weed out the non-citizens at the polls before they get inside. The polling suggests that would have bipartisan support.

Going after the property tax, the financial lynch pin for lots of local governments, is a rebooted effort that failed the last time the Axe the Tax folks tried to get this on the ballot. They are back, suggesting they are wiser and even more dedicated with the opposition girding itself for another battle in this Son-of-Tisch movement. That started back in the ’70s by the former drain commissioner of Shiawassee County, Robert Tisch. Extra points for you if you remember the gangly guy who also wanted to be governor.

Even though the legislature and governor thought they resolved the minimum wage issue, apparently not everyone agrees.

In fact, the One Fair Wage group that fought the governor and others on the law she signed, has petition language in front of a state agency which will take testimony on it soon. If it passes muster there and if the opposition from the restaurant folks don’t convince the courts to nip this in the bud, the new law would be put on hold if they collect 223,000-plus valid signatures and would remain on hold until the voters decide it at the next statewide election.

The House Democratic leader, Rep. Ranjeev Puri, voted against the measure signed into law. He says he has not decided whether to support this issue but he did offer that the people’s voices should be heard especially because the government has been “unresponsive” on the wage issue.

The Michigan AFL-CIO has not reviewed the petition yet, as the One Fair Wage leaders promise to release a list of its supporters down the road.

So what does all this mean for you?

First, don’t pack the lunch yet and keep the folding chair in the garage. That’s because groups professing they will collect enough signatures to advance all these issues to the ballot is not a gimme. It takes time, effort, and the almighty dollars if various groups decided to pay for the names. And given the petition efforts in the past that have fallen apart because some phony signatures were found on the petitions, rest assured opponents of each plan will fly speck every name, hoping to block them from the statewide ballot.

Right now, the only winners in all this are the mass and social media advertising folks who have dollars signs in their heads and lots of ca-chings in their ears.