Election Fraud and the Initiative Process: A Study of the 2006 Michigan Civil Rights Initiative

This Article details and analyzes the allegations of fraud that surrounded the placement of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative on the 2006 Michigan ballot, with an emphasis on the normative concerns that such a phenomenon engenders. It seeks to place the Michigan events in the broader legal and historical context of election fraud and ballot initiatives, and discusses why the events surround the MCRI signature-gathering process are a serious cause for concern. The Article ultimately enumerates three specific state proposals, as well as a federal proposal, for addressing the use of fraud and misrepresentation in gathering signatures to place initiatives to change laws or amend state constitutions on the ballot. This discussion is intended to be a starting point for a broader dialogue that seeks to develop adequate protections for registered voters who are victimized by this stain of fraud and deception. It is hoped that, in detailing the allegations of such fraud in Michigan, entities will be encouraged to enact effective safeguards to ensure this deception without a remedy does not reoccur