Michigan Board of State Canvassers punts abortion ban to state Supreme Court

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Voters in Michigan will have to wait for the state Supreme Court to decide whether a 1931 law will outlaw abortions. 

The Michigan Board of State Canvassers couldn’t come to a decision on Wednesday whether an amendment to the state’s constitution enshrining abortion rights should end up on the ballot in November. The board, which is split evenly with two Democrats and two Republicans, fought over a technicality in the ballot proposal rather than the substance of the petition. 

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was behind a push to prevent local prosecutors from being allowed to enforce a 91-year-old state abortion law.  (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Members of the board were divided over a text-spacing issue, as some words in the petition were not separated properly. 

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"If what was circulated had come to us for review it would not have been approved," Tony Daunt, the Republican chairman of the state election board said. "I have trouble understanding why we should let this one go."

All eyes were on the canvassing board after a judge continued the back-and-forth process of blocking prosecutors from enforcing the state’s 1931 law that bans abortions. There had been some debate about whether county prosecutors were allowed to enforce the law after a state Court of Appeals panel ruled the state’s attorney general employees could not prosecute abortion providers under the law. 

Protesters shout as they join thousands marching around the Arizona Capitol after the Supreme Court decision to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion decision Friday, June 24, 2022, in Phoenix.  (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

The petition to put the amendment on the November ballot garnered 752,288 signatures and the board of canvassers approved the petition in March. However, the petition language the board reviewed on Wednesday was different than the March proposal, which didn’t have the spacing problems. 

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Abortion rights activists argued the board didn’t have the authority to reject the petition based on spacing issues, which don’t affect the the content of the petition. 

""We simply have no authority to reject this petition based upon challenges to the content of the petition," Gurewitz said, according to The Detroit News.