Overview

A ballot initiative sponsored by Americans for Citizen Voting (ACV) contains sweeping election proposals that would erect new barriers to the ballot for Michigan voters of all backgrounds and impose significant administrative burdens on state and county elections officials.1 The harmful restrictions proposed under the initiative are stricter voter identification requirements and new requirements for proof of U.S. citizenship.

The ACV initiative would create cumbersome processes for verifying U.S. citizenship that would likely require all voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship (DPOC) in person2 to state or local government officials, as well as require voter ID in all instances—even though substantial percentages of Michigan voters lack a driver’s license or similar photo ID. Under the ACV initiative, only a short list of documents would qualify as proof of citizenship, including a birth certificate, a U.S. passport, and certificates of citizenship or naturalization. All of these requirements would place significant financial burdens on voters and on elections officials. In addition, they are likely to upend popular methods of voter registration, including registration by mail, community voter registration drives, and online voter registration.

Learn more about the impact of the ACV initiative by downloading the full factsheet

  • 1Initiative Petition Amendment to the Constitution, Americans for Citizen Voting – Michigan (July 11, 2025), https://www.michigan.gov/sos/-/media/Project/Websites/sos/BSC-Announcements/AmericansForCitizensVoting-v2483aFinal.pdf
  • 2The ACV initiative fails to specify whether voters must provide proof of citizenship in person. In most instances, we assume that in-person proof of citizenship would be required by the secretary of state’s office, although alternative channels could be established.