LANSING, Mich. — Michigan voters will decide on Nov. 3 whether to open the state constitution to a full rewrite, and a bipartisan coalition is working to defeat the idea.
Proposal 1 is not a citizen petition or a legislative choice. The state constitution itself requires the question to go before voters every 16 years, a schedule that began in 1978, and Michigan is among 14 states where a convention question lands on the ballot automatically.
The ballot wording asks if a gathering of elected delegates should be held in 2027 to produce an overall revision, and whatever they write would come back to the voters, who could accept or reject it. A yes vote supports holding the convention; a no vote opposes it.
If it passes, voters would next choose 148 delegates, one per legislative district, to carry out the work. There is no set deadline for a finished document.
The organized opposition, registered as Protect MI Constitution from Special Interests, argues that special interest groups could use a convention to remake the state’s founding document in fundamental ways.
Backers counter that a convention offers a way around partisan gridlock in the Legislature, letting delegates take up changes that lawmakers have been unable or unwilling to make.
Michigan has operated under four constitutions. The first, from 1835, cleared the way for statehood, followed by versions adopted in 1850 and 1908. The current document dates to a 1963 vote.
Election Day is Nov. 3, and in-person early voting must be available statewide starting Oct. 24.
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