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Secretary of State will ask for AG opinion on petition drive law

Jocelyn Benson
Benson for Secretary of State

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson plans to challenge a new law that could make it tougher to collect signatures to initiate legislation or ballot proposals.

Previously, organizers collected signatures by county with no limit on how many could be gathered.

The new law limits the number of signatures that organizers can collect from voters in any given congressional district.

It caps the number at 15 percent of the total number of signatures needed to move the petition forward, even if far more signatures are gathered in that district.

Benson says she plans to ask Attorney General Dana Nessel to weigh in on the new rules because they may not be constitutional.

The legislation was one of the last signed by former Gov. Rick Snyder before leaving office.

Paulette is a digital media reporter and producer for Michigan Public. She started as a newsroom intern at the station in 2014 and has taken on various roles in that time, including filling in as an on-air host.
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