Petition to Undo Whitmer’s COVID-19 Executive Orders Has Enough Valid Signatures

A petition drive in Michigan seeking to repeal a law that underpins many of Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s restrictive COVID-19 executive orders has enough valid signatures to proceed up the chain that leads to the state Legislature, documents show. The conservative-led initiative, called Unlock Michigan, needed 340,047 signatures to obtain certification from the state’s Bureau of Elections, a necessary precondition to send the matter to the state’s Republican-led Legislature. An April 19 staff report from the Michigan Secretary of State’s office (pdf) estimated at a 100 percent confidence level that the petition drive had amassed 460,358 valid signatures out of a total filing that contained just over 538,000 signatures. The document also features a recommendation that the petition be certified.-- More...