Wolf hunt opponents challenging Michigan law on collecting signatures for ballot questions

Groups seeking to prevent hunting of Michigan wolves are asking a federal judge to declare unconstitutional state laws regarding how ballot question petitions can be circulated. (File photo)

By Brian Smith
on February 10, 2014

LANSING -- Animal rights groups opposed to the law authorizing wolf hunting in Michigan have filed a federal lawsuit challenging the state's restrictions on how signatures must be collected for ballot questions.

The lawsuit, filed electronically on Sunday by a coalition of groups including Keep Michigan Wolves Protected, asks a federal judge to rule that Michigan's requirement that petition circulators be Michigan residents is an unconstitutional restriction on First Amendment rights.

Keep Michigan Wolves Protected is seeking to overturn a 2013 law allowing the state's Natural Resources Commission to designate wolves as a game species. That law allowed for the state's first wolf hunt late last year.

State law requires each page of a ballot proposal petition be signed by a witness, who must be qualified to vote in Michigan. The plaintiffs, who include the Humane Society Legislative Fund and a Florida woman seeking to help circulate a petition on behalf of Keep Michigan Wolves Protected, allege that the requirement infringes on their free speech rights. "Michigan’s state residency requirement for petition circulators severely restricts the abilities of non-Michigan-residents – including volunteer members of HSLF and Sherri Ferrell – to engage in core political speech in Michigan and to associate with the organizations and Michigan residents who support the initiatives," the lawsuit alleges.

The plaintiffs allege similar restrictions have been struck down by federal courts across the country as a violation of the First Amendment. They ask Judge Robert Cleland to strike down the Michigan law.
The suit names Secretary of State Ruth Johnson, the state's top elections official, as a defendant along with Attorney General Bill Schuette and Colleen Pero, chairwoman of the State Board of Canvassers, the agency charged with validating petitions for ballot questions.

The defendants have not yet responded to the allegations in the suit.


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