Board approves Ranked Choice Voting summary that residents will see on petitions

(FOX 2) - The Michigan Board of State Canvassers approved the language that petitioners pushing to change the state's voting processes would show to residents as they gather signatures for a potential future proposal.

Ranked Choice Voting is not how Michigan currently elects its officials. But residents may get the opportunity to approve implementing it in the 2026 midterms. 

Big picture view:

The board that approves language that campaigns can use when gathering signatures for ballot proposals gave the green light to the group that wants to change how Michigan elects candidates for office.

On Friday, the Michigan Board of State Canvassers approved the summary that Rank MI Vote can show residents when it gathers signatures in hopes of putting the issue before voters.

The effort is still in its early planning stages. But if the group gets enough people to sign onto their petitions, it would appear as a ballot proposal during the 2026 midterms.

If a majority of voters approve the proposal, it would change Michigan's constitution. Instead of the candidate with the most votes winning an election during one round of voting, voters would rank their favorite candidates. 

What is Ranked Choice Voting?

The backstory:

Voters have the opportunity to rewrite the Michigan constitution using ballot proposals. But the journey a proposed constitutional amendment takes before appearing on a ballot is a lengthy one.

It starts with a citizen-led petition drive. When a group wants to change something about the state constitution, they bring it to the canvassing board, which works to summarize the proposed change in 100 words or less. 

After approving the summary, the group must obtain enough signatures from voters before they can get it to appear on the official election ballot. Only then can citizens vote for or against the constitutional change.

Dig deeper:

On Friday, the canvassing board approved summary language that Rank MI Vote will take to voters as it seeks to obtain enough signatures. 

The election method allows voters to rank their favorite candidates in a race. If a candidate receives more than half of the first choices, they win the race. 

If no candidate wins the most first-choice votes, then the lowest-ranked candidates will be eliminated, and their voter's choices will be reallocated to their second choice. 

The proposal would also move up the summer primary earlier in the year to allow for enough time.

Below is the summary language approved by the canvassing board:

Require Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) for federal offices, governor/lieutenant governor, attorney general, and secretary of state, allowing voters to numerically rank candidates by voter preference starting in 2029, count votes in rounds, eliminating lowest-ranked candidate, and reallocating their votes to remaining ranked candidates until candidate with most final round votes is declared the winner, allow voters to rank at least four more candidates than positions to be nominated/elected, unless insufficient number of candidates, authorize local jurisdiction to adopt use of RCV in local elections, move August primary to June or earlier in even-year elections. Require legislative funding and implementing legislation.