Opponents of a proposal to allow eight new casinos across Michigan say they will ask the state Court of Appeals to order the question off the November ballot.
The Protect MI Vote coalition is made up of business groups, as well as the three Detroit casinos and three tribal casinos.
Attorneys for the group say the proposal was poorly drafted because it combines an amendment to the state constitution with a re-write of Michigan’s law that regulates casino gaming.
John Truscott of Protect MI Vote says that makes the ballot question confusing and misleading.
“I think this lawsuit being filed does expose the flaws in what they’ve written, but, was it just poorly written? That would be a question for their lawyers to answer,” he said.
Emily Gerkin Palsrok is with the casinos campaign. She says the question was carefully drafted.
“We feel very confident in the language that we submitted. We had some of the best lawyers in Michigan, some of the best constitutional lawyers put the wording together,” she said. “We’ve had no pushback from the state, from the Secretary of State’s’ office. So we feel very confident that our language is good to go for November.”
Palsrok says the Detroit and tribal casinos don’t want the question on the ballot because they don’t want more competition.
