Proposal 1 · Michigan statewide ballot · November 3, 2026
Don’t hand special interests the pen to rewrite our constitution.
Proposal 1 asks whether Michigan should hold a constitutional convention — a “Con-Con” that would let 148 partisan delegates, their donors, and Lansing lobbyists overhaul every article of our state constitution behind closed doors. A bipartisan coalition says the answer is NO.
Proposal 1 — Constitutional Convention Question
Shall a convention of elected delegates be convened in 2027 to draft a general revision of the State Constitution for presentation to the state’s voters for their approval or rejection?
Fill the oval completely · Vote No
Proposal 1 (November 3, 2026) asks whether Michigan should hold a constitutional convention. Vote NO: a Con-Con would cost nearly $80 million, lock voters out of a closed-door rewrite of the entire constitution, and Michigan already has a voter-controlled way to amend it.
What’s actually on the ballot
What would a constitutional convention actually do?
A Con-Con hands the entire Michigan Constitution to 148 partisan delegates for a full rewrite — with no limits on what they can change, no deadline, and no voter oversight until it’s over.
The delegates
148 partisan politicians hold the pen
One delegate from each of Michigan’s 110 House and 38 Senate districts — elected in partisan races bankrolled by the same donors and lobbyists who already dominate Lansing — would convene October 5, 2027.
The scope
Every article is on the table
A convention drafts a “general revision” — all 12 articles at once. Civil rights, school funding, courts, taxes, term limits, Great Lakes protections: nothing in our constitution would be off-limits.
The process
Closed doors, no accountability
The convention writes its own rules. Delegates could meet with unelected insiders behind closed doors to do the bidding of billionaire donors and extremist lobbyists — with no transparency or oversight from voters.
The clock
No deadline — and an $80 million bill
There is no time limit on a convention; the last one, in 1962, ran nearly ten months. Taxpayers would foot a bill of nearly $80 million while Michigan’s fundamental law sits in limbo.
The numbers
What’s at stake, by the numbers
$80M
Preliminary estimated cost of a constitutional convention. The formal report models $10–47 million per year in operating costs, with no limit on how many years a convention could run.
Nonpartisan Senate Fiscal Agency, preliminary estimate
67%
Share of Michigan voters who rejected the last Con-Con question in 2010 — voters have said NO by huge margins every time it has appeared.
2010 statewide election results, via Votebeat
12
Articles of the Michigan Constitution a convention could rewrite at once — every right and protection, opened in a single process.
Michigan Constitution, Article XII § 3
Pandora’s box
Why is a Con-Con too risky for Michigan?
Because it trades a constitution that voters control for a years-long, closed-door rewrite that voters don’t — and once the box is open, everything inside is up for grabs.
Right now, everyday Michiganders control the state constitution. Citizens propose specific, targeted amendments by petition, debate them in the open, and approve or reject each one at the ballot box. It’s deliberate, it’s transparent, and it works.
A convention replaces all of that with a single sweeping process run by political insiders. Wealthy donors and extreme special interest groups want to use a Con-Con to sneak in narrow agendas that could never survive a straight up-or-down vote — because the convention floor is where voters aren’t.
Michigan shouldn’t mess with a constitution that is working.
And the risk isn’t hypothetical: whatever emerges — however extreme — comes back to voters as one take-it-or-leave-it package, with decades of consequences either way.
Nov. 3, 2026 — Proposal 1 passes
The box opens: Michigan commits to a full constitutional convention, sight unseen.
2027 — Partisan delegate elections
148 delegates elected within six months — in low-turnout races where special-interest money goes furthest.
Oct. 5, 2027 — The convention convenes
Delegates write their own rules, set their own agenda, and face no deadline. The 1962 convention ran nearly ten months.
2028 or later — One take-it-or-leave-it vote
At least 90 days after the convention ends, voters get a single yes-or-no on the entire rewritten constitution — every change bundled together.
Years of uncertainty and $80 million — to “fix” a constitution voters can already amend, one careful change at a time.
Voters keep it current
Is the 1963 constitution outdated?
No. Michigan voters update it regularly, one targeted amendment at a time. In the last two statewide elections alone, voters approved five major changes:
2018 · Prop. 2
Redistricting
Created the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission to draw Michigan’s legislative and congressional maps.
2018 · Prop. 3
Voting rights
Added same-day voter registration, no-reason absentee voting, and straight-ticket voting to the constitution.
2022 · Prop. 1
Term limits & financial disclosure
Set legislative term limits at 12 total years and required financial disclosure from legislators and top state officials.
2022 · Prop. 2
Voting rights
Established nine days of early in-person voting and expanded protections for absentee voting.
2022 · Prop. 3
Reproductive freedom
Established a constitutional right to reproductive freedom.
The 1963 constitution has been amended 39 times, through citizen petitions and legislative referrals. Each change was debated in public and approved by voters on its own.
Sources: Michigan Department of State election results; The Detroit News, October 6, 2026; Ballotpedia
The coalition
Who is urging a NO vote on Proposal 1?
A bipartisan coalition that agrees on little else — business and labor, left and right, faith groups and civil libertarians — agrees on this: don’t open the box.
When the ACLU, the Chamber of Commerce, teachers’ unions, and the Catholic Conference all land on the same side of a ballot question, it isn’t politics — it’s a warning.