The number of campaigns trying to get questions on Michigan's November ballot is dropping.
A referendum campaign to undo changes state lawmakers made last year to the state’s minimum wage law is the latest to fall.
Others that have dropped out include a campaign to raise taxes on some of Michigan’s highest earners and direct the revenue to schools, and an effort to bring ranked-choice voting to Michigan elections.
One Fair Wage, the most recent group to suspend its campaign, has been trying to create one minimum wage for all Michiganders, regardless of whether they make tips. After winning a years-long legal fight in 2024, the group had come close to getting its wish.
But the Legislature stepped in after the hospitality industry mounted major opposition. The referendum was a last-ditch effort this year to once again get the group’s policy goals into law this year.
One Fair Wage needed to collect 223,099 signatures to get the referendum before voters this November. In a statement announcing the end of its 2026 campaign, the group did not say how many signatures it ended up collecting.
Instead, One Fair Wage said it was refocusing its efforts on the next election cycle. This year, it will be putting its resources toward helping an initiative petition to stop public utilities and some state contractors from making political contributions.
“One Fair Wage has recently formed several new partnerships to help put key reforms on the ballot in 2026 and 2028 — beginning with passing key Money out of Politics reforms in 2026," the group said in a statement.
"Passing Money out of Politics reforms ... will help us to pass and protect new, bold, long-term Living Wage for All reforms via the ballot in 2028," said One Fair Wage.
"If the legislature does not act, the will of the voters and working Michiganders will prevail at the ballot box,” the campaign said.
Last week, a ballot campaign to pay for schools by raising taxes on some of Michigan’s highest earners suspended its signature collection efforts. Instead, the group, Invest in MI Kids, is focusing on the 2028 election cycle after canvassing fell behind the required 446,198 signatures needed to qualify for this year’s ballot.
Jess Newman, with the campaign’s steering committee, said the work it put in this election cycle will carry forward to the future.
“People were ready to build, we said we were going to continue on in 2027 and into 2028, and everyone said yes resoundingly. Part of this is also understanding we now have thousands of people who know how to talk to folks and collect signatures. That’s an infrastructure you cannot buy,” Newman said.
Newman said she believes the campaign had collected around 250,000 signatures when it decided to postpone.
Signatures for proposed constitutional amendments aren’t due until July. But state law requires campaigns to collect them all within a 180-day period, creating trouble for ballot drives that need to take more time.
Late last year, a ballot measure to create ranked-choice voting in Michigan also suspended its campaign in favor of regrouping for 2028.
At times, supporters promoted petitions for those two — and a third, the Michiganders for Money out of Politics campaign — at the same time.
Sean McBrearty is with that third campaign. He said the loss of an ally in the field isn’t slowing them down.
“We've been on this upward trajectory where, in February, we collected three times the number of signatures that we collected in January. This month, I think we're going to triple it again,” McBrearty said.
He said his campaign can also help Invest in MI Kids in the future.
“It's unfortunately something I don't think we're going to address legislatively, until we can get money out of politics. So hopefully our ballot initiative this year can be a precursor for all sorts of great things to come for the people of Michigan,” McBrearty said.
To make the November ballot, the Michiganders for Money out of Politics ballot initiative needs to submit 356,958 signatures by May 27. Initiative petitions require fewer signatures than proposed constitutional amendments.
McBrearty said the campaign is about halfway there and is planning to ramp up as more events begin happening.
A fourth campaign in the field, AxMITax, would get rid of property taxes altogether. The campaign didn’t respond to questions about updates on Friday.
A fifth campaign, to require proof of citizenship to register to vote and tighten Michigan’s photo ID voting laws, submitted around 750,000 signatures to the Bureau of Elections earlier this month.
