LANSING, Mich. — Michigan voters will settle a question on Nov. 3 that only comes around once every 16 years: whether to elect delegates to a convention in 2027 that would propose a broad rewrite of Michigan’s founding legal document.
Proposal 1 is not a citizen petition or a legislative referral. Article XII, Section 3 of the Michigan Constitution puts the convention question on the general election ballot automatically on a 16-year cycle that began in 1978, a schedule voters created by approving Proposal 3 in 1960. Michigan is one of 14 states with a built-in, recurring convention question.
A yes vote supports holding the convention. A no vote opposes it. Any revised constitution the delegates produced would go back to voters, who would have to approve it before it took effect.
The document now in force dates to 1963. It is the fourth constitution in Michigan history, after the 1835 charter that brought statehood and later versions adopted in 1850 and 1908.
Opposition is organized under a bipartisan coalition called Protect MI Constitution From Special Interests, whose members include the ACLU of Michigan, the Michigan Chamber, the Michigan AFL-CIO, the Michigan Education Association and the Working Families Party, with the Detroit Regional Chamber also against the measure. A committee named Yes on Proposal 1 is registered in support.
Passage takes a simple majority of those voting on the question. Forecast modeling assumes about 6 percent of people who cast ballots will leave this question blank.
History favors a no vote. From 2000 through 2022, 22 convention questions appeared on statewide ballots in 13 states, and every one failed, with an average of roughly 64 percent opposed. The closest call came in New Hampshire in 2002, where the measure lost with just over 49 percent support.
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