July 17, 2026, 8:27 p.m. ET
Lansing — The Michigan Bureau of Elections Friday recommended a petition initiative that would bar some of the state’s largest corporations from spending money on state politics be sent to the Legislature for consideration and possible placement on the November ballot.
The petition initiative from Michiganders for Money out of Politics has enough valid signatures to qualify for the November election, the bureau said in a Friday staff report to the Michigan Board of State Canvassers.
If adopted, the initiative would amend state campaign finance law to prohibit contributions from monopoly utilities and companies with state government contracts worth more than $250,000. Additionally, the initiative would ban entities and people connected to utilities and large government contractors from giving to political campaigns in Michigan.
The four-member, bipartisan Board of State Canvassers is expected to consider the bureau’s recommendation at its July 24 meeting for certification and transmission to the state Legislature, which can either accept the proposal or allow it to proceed to the November ballot. The board, which is made up of two Republicans and two Democrats, usually follows the recommendations of the bureau.
The proposal is significant because it would fundamentally alter the flow of political money in Lansing.
The recommended certification is likely to set off a brewing battle in Michigan as the corporations most affected by the proposal — regulated utilities like DTE Energy and Consumers Energy and insurers such as Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan — wade further into the fight.
In a statement Friday, Sean McBrearty, co-chair for Michiganders for Money out of Politics, thanked the volunteers “who powered this campaign.”
“It is long overdue for the people of Michigan to have the opportunity to rein in the corporate money and special interests that have too much influence over our politics in Lansing,” McBrearty said.
Protect MI Free Speech, a group organized to oppose the initiative, emphasized that the Bureau of Elections staff report was a “recommendation” not a “final determination.”
“This process is far from over,” said John Sellek, a spokesman for the group. “We will continue exposing the sloppy work done in support of this Trojan horse proposal that will silence hundreds of thousands of everyday Michiganders and leave out-of-state billionaires to control our politics and government.”
If canvassers certify the petition initiative, it would then advance to the Michigan Legislature, which would have the ability to accept the proposal or allow it to proceed to the November ballot for voters to decide. Lawmakers could also put an alternative and competing measure on the ballot.
The initiative also attempts to expand transparency around so-called dark money groups. Under current law, only groups that run ads expressly telling people how to vote have to report their donors. The initiative would expand the disclosure requirements to ads that clearly identify candidates, which would encompass those ads run by dark money groups that do not usually disclose their donors.
The Bureau of Elections conducted a random sample of the submitted signatures, as they do with other proposed petition initiatives and constitutional amendments, to consider the validity of those submitted, according to Friday’s report. Based on that sample, bureau staff determined the submission contained roughly 368,762 valid signatures, about 11, 804 more than the 356,958 needed for certification.
The total sample of the 561,282 signatures submitted by Michiganders for Money out of Politics was 1,000.
Of those 1,000, according to the bureau report, 201 were determined to be invalid, including 107 that were disqualified because they were signed by people not registered to vote. Other issues with the submission included signatures that didn’t match with what was on the qualified voter file as well as missing circulator information and invalid addresses, cities or dates.
Under the Bureau of Elections sampling formula, the petition initiative needed at least 636 valid signatures out of the 1,000 to be recommended for certification. Michiganders for Money out of Politics, even after the removal of some challenged signatures, had 657.
After receiving a challenge of additional signatures from Protect MI Free Speech, the bureau considered those challenged and determined there were 142 additional signatures in the sample that were invalid.
The Board of State Canvassers on July 24 also will consider a 100-word summary of the Michiganders for Money out of Politics proposal for the November ballot as well as the number that will be assigned to the question for the ballot.
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