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State Board Fails to Certify Affirmative Action Petition

The Detroit News reports that following a raucous protest involving a couple of hundred Detroit area students, the state Board of State Canvassers failed again to place an affirmative action ban proposal on next year's ballot. The elections panel voted 2-1 to certify the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative for the November 2006 ballot, but three votes are required. Republican board members Katherine DeGrow and Lyn Bankes voted in favor with Democrats Paul Mitchell voting no and Doyle O'Connor not voting. Board members have expressed concerns that petition signers were misled about the proposal's intent, but the court ruled the board has no authority other than to determine whether enough valid petition signatures were gathered (1/2 million were, more than enough). The proposal would end racial and gender preferences for college admissions and government hiring and contracting, which means most public sector affirmative action programs would be scrapped.

Read Students disrupt election vote in the Detroit News
Also see State elections board deadlocks on affirmative action proposal in the Lansing State Journal

Posted/updated Dec 15, 2005
by Andrew McFarlane (Absolute Michigan)