LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Two Michigan state senators and nine House members are taking their battle over election law straight to the top. They’ve filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Jonathan Brater, director of the Michigan Bureau of Elections, bypassed the legislature – and the U.S. Constitution – by allowing ballot initiatives to overhaul Michigan’s election laws.

The lawmakers, led by Senator Jonathan Lindsey (R-Coldwater) and Representative Steve Carra (R- Three Rivers), claim Whitmer and Benson ignored the Constitution’s Elections Clause, which gives state legislatures – not governors or voters with Sharpies and clipboards – the power to regulate federal elections.

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“This case is about whether the people’s representatives can speak on their behalf in response to blatant violations of the U.S. Constitution by state officials,” said attorney William Wagner of the Great Lakes Justice Center, co-counsel on the petition. “The governor and Secretary of State say no. We, on behalf of the people‘s representatives, say yes.”

At the heart of the issue are two constitutional amendments – Proposals 2 and 3 from 2018 and Proposal 2 from 2022 – that rewrote Michigan’s election rules without a single vote from the legislature. The changes include same-day voter registration without valid ID, up to 29 days of early voting, and private funding of election operations. These provisions are now locked into Michigan’s Constitution, making them difficult to alter.

SCOTUS asked to settle power struggle.

This legal spat started back in September 2023 with the case Lindsey v. Whitmer. Both the district court and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals tossed it out, saying the lawmakers lacked standing, meaning the courts wouldn’t even hear the case on its merits. The legislators, undeterred, are now asking SCOTUS to let them have their day in court.

Lawmakers warn: without standing, rogue ballot proposals could rewrite elections coast to coast.

“If I, as a legislator, don’t have standing to say election laws are being passed without legislative approval, then who does?” asked Carra, who also chairs the House Freedom Caucus.

Rep. Rachelle Smit (R-Martin), another plaintiff, warned of the slippery slope: “What happens to our Constitutional rights if those who would undermine our elections find ways to usurp the Constitution’s protections, and no one has ‘standing’ to fight for those rights?”

The petition argues that if SCOTUS doesn’t step in, this backdoor route to changing election laws could become the norm – not just in Michigan, but nationwide. Advocates like Patrice Johnson of Michigan Fair Elections say this legal end-run is already being used to push Ranked Choice Voting onto Michigan’s 2026 ballot. She says, “Outside actors know they can’t mislead legislatures to pass these election-integrity-killing laws, so they pour millions of dollars into running deceptive advertising campaigns to bamboozle voters into approving them. Now, these actors are trying to repeat the unconstitutional process and put Ranked Choice Voting on the ballot for 2026. We have to stop this. Now.”