Michigan Supreme Court rejects bid to put proof-of-citizenship voting measure on November ballot

Michigan's proof-of-citizenship voting measure is officially off the November ballot. The state Supreme Court rejected an emergency request Thursday to save it, just hours after the U.S. Supreme Court turned down a similar request from the same group.

The measure came up just a handful of signatures short. Michigan's high court ruled that it couldn't force election officials to change that. The court said that decision was up to the Board of State Canvassers, not the courts. Only one justice dissented, and only on a small part of the case.

Earlier that day, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh turned down a separate, last-minute request from the same group to put the measure on the ballot. He didn't explain his decision.

The group behind the push, Americans for Citizen Voting-Michigan (ACVM), wanted to change the Michigan Constitution. Voters would have had to prove they're U.S. citizens and show photo ID to vote.

ACVM collected more than 700,000 signatures. It needed about 446,000. But the state only checks a random sample — in this case, 1,000 signatures. Of those, 629 needed to be valid. After a rival group challenged some signatures, and ACVM tried to fix others with sworn affidavits, the final count came to 626, or three short.

Promote the Vote Action, a group that opposed the measure, praised the ruling. It said ballot campaigns have to follow the rules, and it plans to keep fighting for broader ballot access.