PETITION CIRCULATOR; MODIFY S.B. 1108 (S-3) - 1110 (S-2):
SUMMARY AS PASSED BY THE SENATE
Senate Bill 1108 (Substitute S-3 as passed by the Senate)
Senate Bill 1109 (Substitute S-1 as passed by the Senate)
Senate Bill 1110 (Substitute S-2 as passed by the Senate)
Sponsor: Senator Jeremy Moss (S.B. 1108 & 1109)
Senator Ed McBroom (S.B. 1110)
Committee: Elections and Ethics
Date Completed: 12-30-24
CONTENT
Senate Bill 1110 (S-2) would amend the Michigan Election Law to do the following:
-- Provide that, if an elector signed a petition, nominating petition, qualifying
petition for a candidate without political party affiliation, a petition to form a
new State political party, or a recall petition more than once, only the first valid
signature of that elector would be counted.
-- Allow the Board of State Canvassers (Board) to use a statistical random sampling
methodology, as approved by the Board, to determine whether a petition
complied with petition circulator requirements.
-- Require the Secretary of State (SOS) to create a petition form, with the approval
of the Board, to be used by petitioners, and require the Bureau of Elections
(Bureau) to issue and make publicly available a digitally editable version.
-- Require the petition form to include an area designated solely for the sponsor,
the full text of the proposed amendment, law, or referendum on the reverse side
of the form, a table for signatures, and an identification statement as required
by the Michigan Campaign Finance Act.
-- Prescribe specific textual requirements for constitutional amendment, initiated
law, and referendum petition forms.
-- Require a petition form also to include a petition circulator certification.
-- Reorganize misdemeanor and felony penalties.
Senate Bill 1108 (S-3) would amend the Michigan Election Law to prohibit an
individual employed to circulate a petition, a nominating petition, a qualifying
petition, or a recall petition from being paid a fixed rate or amount for each petition
signature collected or for each completed petition signature sheet.
Senate Bill 1109 (S-1) would amend the Michigan Election Law to require the
circulator of a petition to read to or allow an individual to read the summary of the
purpose of a petition’s proposed amendment or question before the individual
signed the petition.
Senate Bill 1110 would take effect 90 days after its enactment. Senate Bills 1110 and 1109
are described in detail below.
Senate Bill 1110 (S-2)
The bill would provide that, if a petition, nominating petition, qualifying petition for a candidate
without political party affiliation, a petition to form a new State political party, or a recall
Page 1 of 5 sb1108-1110/2324
petition contained the signature of the same elector more than one time, only the first valid
signature of that elector could be counted.
The bill also would allow the Board of State Canvassers to use a statistical random sampling
methodology, as approved by the Board of State Canvassers, to determine the validity and
sufficiency of signatures and petition form requirements on petitions to form a new political
party.
Petition Form; Generally
Among other things, the Law provides for the form of petitions. Currently, each petition must
be 8-1/2 inches by 14 inches in size. A petition's written content must be written in size 14
font. The bill would delete these provisions. Instead, it would require the SOS to create a
petition form, with the approval of the Board, to be used by petitioners. The Bureau of
Elections would have to issue and make publicly available a digitally editable model of this
form.
The text on a petition form would have to be printed in at least 8-point type. The sponsor of
a petition could include on the petition form union symbols, bar codes, QR codes, websites,
or any other similar information in the area on the petition form that was designated solely
for the sponsor.
Currently, the full text of the proposed constitutional amendment, initiated law, or referendum
must follow the petition's summary of purpose. The bill would delete this provision and require
the full text of the amendment, law, or referendum to be printed on the reverse side of the
petition form. If the full text of the proposed constitutional amendment, initiated law, or
referendum were too lengthy to be printed on the reverse side of the petition form, the text
would have to be continued on a fold-over extension of the same petition form.
The bill would require a table for signatures of those signing a petition to be printed on the
petition form that included a space for 1) signatures, 2) the printed names of the signers, 3)
the street address or rural route of the signers, 4) the city or township of the signers, 5) the
zip code of the signers, 6) the county in which the signers reside, and 7) the date of the
signatures. A missing element of the address of a petition signer, such as a missing or
incomplete zip code, would not be sufficient cause to invalidate a signature if the information
provided were sufficient to match the petition signer with an elector in the qualified voter file.
Additionally, the Michigan Campaign Finance Act requires printed matter that bears reference
to an election, a candidate, or a ballot question, to display an identification that contains the
name and address of the person paying for the matter. The bill would require a petition form
to include this identification statement. Additionally, a petition would have to include any
administrative act promulgated under the Act, if applicable.
Petition Form; Constitutional Amendment
Under the bill, the following would have to be printed below the required summary of the
purpose of a proposed constitutional amendment:
-- An indication of the sections of the State Constitution that would be amended, repealed,
or added by the proposed amendment.
-- If the petition sponsor maintained an internet website, an address for the internet website
that included the summary of purpose, the full text of the proposed amendment, and the
Page 2 of 5 sb1108-1110/2324
 full text of any existing provision of the State Constitution that would be altered or
repealed by the proposed amendment.
-- The following statement: "See reverse side of this petition for the full text of the proposed
constitutional amendment and any existing provisions of the State Constitution that would
be altered or abrogated by the proposed constitutional amendment."
Petition Form; Initiated Law
Under the bill, the following would have to be printed below the required summary of the
purpose of a proposed initiated law:
-- The full legal name included in the proposed law.
-- The full legal name enacted by the Legislature, if any, for an existing law that would be
amended or repealed by the proposed law.
-- If applicable, the public act number and year of the existing law that would be amended
or repealed by the proposed law.
-- If applicable, the range of sections in the compiled laws of the law that would be amended
or repealed in the proposed law.
-- An address for an internet website that included the summary of purpose and the full text
of the legislation proposed by the law.
Petition Form; Referendum
Under the bill, the following would have to be printed below the required summary of the
purpose of a proposed referendum:
-- The public act number and year of the public act subject to the proposed referendum.
-- An address for an internet website that included the summary of the purpose and the full
text of the law subject to the referendum.
Petition Circulator Certification
The bill would require a petition circulator certification to appear on a petition form. Generally,
this statement would certify that the circulator was a United States citizen 18 years of age or
older, that each signature was signed in the circulator's presence, that the circulator had no
knowledge that an individual signed the petition more than once, and that each signature was
genuine to the best of the circulator's knowledge.
If the circulator of a petition proposing a constitutional amendment, initiated law, or
referendum were not a resident of the State, the circulator would have to indicate where
provided on the petition circulator certification that the circulator agreed to accept the
jurisdiction of the State for the purpose of any legal proceeding or hearing that concerned a
petition sheet executed by the circulator and agreed that legal process served on the SOS or
a designated agent of the SOS would have the same effect as if personally served on the
circulator. If the SOS or a designated agent of the SOS were served with legal process, the
SOS would have to promptly notify the circulator by personal service or certified mail at the
circulator's residential address as indicated in the petition circulator certification.
Additionally, the Act requires petitions to clearly indicate, in 12-point type, below the
compensation statement that if the petition circulator does not comply with all the
requirements of the Act for petition circulators, any signature obtained by that petition
Page 3 of 5 sb1108-1110/2324
circulator on that petition is invalid and will not be counted. The bill would delete this
provision.
Petition Prohibitions
Currently, an individual cannot do any of the following regarding a petition, including a
nominating petition:
-- Sign a petition with a name other than the individual's own.
-- Make a false statement in a certificate on a petition.
-- If not a circulator, sign a petition as a circulator.
-- Sign a name as circulator other than the individual's own.
An individual who violates this prohibition by doing any of the above is guilty of a
misdemeanor. An individual who signs a petition with multiple names is guilty of a felony.
Instead, under the bill, an individual who made a false statement in a certification on a petition
or, if not a circulator, signed a petition as a circulator, would be guilty of a misdemeanor
punishable by a fine of not more than $500 or imprisonment for not more than 93 days, or
both. An individual who signed a petition with a name other than the individual's own or
signed a name as circulator other than the individual's own would be guilty of a felony.
Additionally, the bill would provide that, if an individual were to sign a petition more than
once, only one signature could be counted. Currently, a person circulating a recall petition
must fill out a certificate of circulator. Among other things, the circulator must certify that the
circulator had neither caused nor permitted a person to sign the recall petition more than
once and has no knowledge of a person signing the recall petition more than once. The bill
would delete this provision.
Senate Bill 1109 (S-1)
The bill would require the circulator of a petition to do either of the following before having
an individual sign the petition:
-- Indicate to the individual where the summary of the purpose of the proposed amendment
or question proposed was located on the petition and give that individual the opportunity
to read the summary.
-- Read to the individual the summary of the purpose of the proposed amendment or
question proposed.
If a circulator failed to comply with this requirement when obtaining a signature on a petition,
the sponsor of the petition would be subject to a civil fine of up to $1,500, or $50 for each
violation, whichever was greater.
Proposed MCL 168.483b & 168.957a (S.B. 1108)
Proposed MCL 168.482g (S.B. 1109)
MCL 168.482 et al. (S.B. 1110)
PREVIOUS LEGISLATION
(This section does not provide a comprehensive account of previous legislative efforts on this subject matter.)
Senate Bill 1110 is similar to House Bill 5696 of the 2015-2016 Legislative Session, House Bill
Page 4 of 5 sb1108-1110/2324
5214 of the 2017-2018 Legislative Session, Senate Bill 1213 of the 2019-2020 Legislative
Session, and Senate Bill 608 of the 2021-2022 Legislative Session. It also is similar to House
Bill 5571 of the 2023-2024 Legislative Session.
Senate Bill 1108 is similar to House Bill 5210 of the 2017-2018 Legislative Session, Senate
Bill 1212 of the 2019-2020 Legislative Session, and Senate Bill 607 of the of the 2021-2022
Legislative Session.
BRIEF RATIONALE
In 2022, Michigan's gubernatorial race faced increased scrutiny after the Bureau of Elections
disqualified five primary candidates for failing to meet required signature thresholds. Though
each candidate submitted a nominating petition with the required number of signatures, the
Bureau found that many, an estimated 68,000 signatures, submitted across 10 nominating
petitions were fraudulent, an unprecedented number. 1 Testimony before the Senate
Committee on Elections and Ethics indicates that other, less prominent instances of signature
fraud also exist. Some are concerned that fraud is incentivized because petition circulators
may be paid per signature and that petition circulators may engage in deceit by
misrepresenting the nature of a petition to convince electors to sign it. Accordingly, it has
been suggested that the Law be amended to remove these incentives and penalize bad actors
for spreading misinformation.
Legislative Analyst: Abby Schneider
FISCAL IMPACT
Senate Bills 1108 (S-3) and 1110 (S-2) would have no fiscal impact on State or local
government.
Senate Bill 1109 (S-1) could have a positive fiscal impact on the State and local units of
government. The bill would impose a civil fine of up to $1,500. Revenue collected from civil
fines is used to support local libraries. Additionally, $10 of the civil fine would be deposited
into the State Justice System Fund, which supports justice-related activities across State
government in the Departments of Corrections, Health and Human Services, State Police, and
Treasury. The Fund also supports justice-related issues in the Legislative Retirement System
and the Judiciary. The amount of revenue to the State or for local libraries is indeterminate
and dependent on the actual number of violations.
Fiscal Analyst: Joe Carrasco, Jr.
Michael Siracuse
1
Mauger, Craig, "Board of canvassers deadlocks, blocking 5 candidates for governor from ballot", The
Detroit News, May 26, 2022.
SAS\S2324\s1108sb
This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official
statement of legislative intent.
Page 5 of 5 Bill Analysis @ www.senate.michigan.gov/sfa sb1108-1110/2324


Statutes affected:
Substitute (S-1): 168.1, 168.992
Senate Introduced Bill: 168.1, 168.992
As Passed by the Senate: 168.1, 168.992