Michigan Civil Rights Initiative - Board of Canvassers Meeting

Board of Canvassers Meeting

In July 2005, the Michigan State Board of Canvassers declined to certify the MCRI proposal for Michigan's November 2006 ballot after hearing allegations that a significant number of signatures were obtained by telling supporters of affirmative action that the petition was likewise, in support of affirmative action. Counter-allegations were made by MCRI supporters that the allegations were fabricated and that the Board of Canvassers' decision-process itself was being improperly influenced by politics because Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer was "giving orders" to the two Democrat-appointed members of the Board, and backed up by the linked videotape shot by MCRI Treasurer and publisher Chetly Zarko. Despite the deadlocked vote by the Canvassers and their inability to certify the petition as a result, in October of the same year the Michigan Court of Appeals ordered the board to certify the petitions.

On December 14, 2005, in Lansing, Michigan, while attempting to comply with that court order to certify the petitions, the board's four members were scheduled to make the final vote to certify the petitions for the November ballot. However, the meeting attended by hundreds of Detroit high school students. The crowd began to shout "No voter fraud," until they became so loud that the members left the room adjourning until 2pm. Chanting, "They say Jim Crow! We say hell no!," the emotion-surged crowd of students continued until a table was overturned in the commotion and the Lansing police came in to control the situation. Opponents of MCRI labeled their own conduct "civil disobedience" while proponents argued it crossed the line into outright violence and intentional intimidation. Video of the situation can be seen here.

After the protest, the election panel again failed to certify the petitions with a vote of 2-1, falling short of the required three votes. Republican board members Katherine Degrow and Lyn Banks voted in favor with Democrats Paul Mitchell voting no and Doyle O'Connor not voting.

The meeting received considerable media attention because of the protest. In the months following the controversial board meeting, both Mitchell and O'Connor resigned from the board and were fined $250 on contempt of court charges. O'Connor later testified against the MCRI at the August 17 federal court hearing, relaying how he had witnessed two African-American women circulating the anti-affirmative action petition in Detroit telling signers that it was in support of affirmative action. Proponents counter this claim by arguing that O'Connor, as a member of the Board of Canvassers, had failed to offer this testimony during Board meetings and waited until after the Board had decided and a lawsuit begun to relay his alleged testimony. Proponents suggest that O'Connor had a clear conflict of interest as a first-hand witness, and that he unethically failed to relay that information to the rest of the board and to MCRI officials and recuse himself from the decision-making process, and that his testimony as a result is simply not credible given that he waited so long to relay it.