(WXYZ) — The Michigan Board of State Canvassers voted unanimously to certify the partial recount of Proposals 2 and 3 during a meeting on Wednesday.
The meeting, which kicked off this morning, had the board considering challenges and allowing for public comment well into the afternoon.
The Board of State Canvassers has considered all challenges and certified the partial recounts of Proposal 2022-2 and Proposal 2022-3. pic.twitter.com/av3MSpJ2OS
— Michigan Department of State (@MichSoS) December 21, 2022
Prop 2 expands voter rights in the state. It will require nine days of early, in-person voting. That means that Michiganders would get two weeks and the week before Election Day to vote at designated sites, which would be open eight hours per day. Several states already offer early in-person voting, so it will add Michigan to the list.
Many of the items also deal with absentee ballots. Under the proposal, Michigan will have a single application for people to vote absentee in all elections, require the state to provide postage for absentee applications and ballots, and require state-funded absentee ballot drop boxes and more than one drop box for communities with more than 15,000 people.
Michigan currently allows people to vote if they do not have their ID on them, but it's encouraged that voters bring their ID to the polls. Otherwise, you'll have to sign a sworn affidavit that you are the person voting, and that will continue under Proposal 2.
Proposal 2 will also require the Board of State Canvassers to certify elections based on official records of votes cast, require military or overseas ballots to be counted if postmarked by election day, and recognize the right to vote without harassment.
Prop 3 amends Michigan’s Constitution to guarantee that "every individual has a fundamental right to reproductive freedom," which include the right to make decisions about pregnancy.
Those decisions include "prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, sterilization, abortion care, miscarriage management, and infertility care."
The proposal will allow lawmakers to ban or regulate abortions "after fetal viability," which is usually around the 24-week mark. However, the state would not be able to regulate abortions that are medically necessary to protect the "physical or mental health" of the woman.
It will also prohibit the state from prosecuting anyone "based on their actual, potential, perceived, or alleged pregnancy outcome," which could include miscarriages, stillbirths or abortion.
