Tagged: ballot question petitions

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Michigan could require people paid to collect signatures for a ballot drive to wear an ID badge.

Legislation to be considered by a House committee Tuesday would require the ID to say that the person is being paid and to identify who's paying the circulator. The ID would be required for constitutional amendments, initiated legislation and referendum drives.

Another proposed change would prohibit a circulator of recall petitions from being paid a fixed rate or amount for each signature.

The practice of paying people to gather ballot signatures has come under scrutiny in recent years.

The House Elections and Ethics Committee isn't expected to vote on the bill Tuesday.

Ballot campaigns would no longer be allowed to pay petition circulators based on the number of signatures they collect if a state house bill becomes law.

The measure was introduced just days after Michigan voters rejected all six proposals on the November ballot.

Republican state Representative Ken Horn said paying for signatures is an incentive for circulators to mislead voters.         

Governor Rick Snyder says he’d like to see some changes in the rules for how petition drives put proposals on the ballot.

The governor is particularly critical of paying petition circulators for signatures.

Ballot campaigns spent at least $9.6 million on signature collection alone this year. Governor Snyder said that circumvents the idea of ballot campaigns as grassroots initiatives.

He opposes the five proposed amendments to the state constitution.

The campaign to put renewable energy targets into the state constitution filed 550,000 petition signatures today to qualify for the November ballot.

This campaign pits utility companies and their employee unions against energy entrepreneurs who see a business opportunity in amending Michigan’s constitution. The amendment would require energy providers to generate a quarter of the state’s electricity using wind, solar power or other renewable resources by 2025.