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36 U. Det. L.J. 96 (1958-1959)
Constitutional Revision in Michigan

handle is hein.journals/udetmr36 and id is 104 raw text is: MICHIGAN SECTION CONSTITUTIONAL REVISION IN MICHIGAN ARTHUR W. BROMAGE* To the ordinary decisions confronting Michigan voters is added this November, 1958, the critical question: Shall we call a constitutional conven- tion? Regularly the voters nominate and elect persons to public office, pass on state and local referenda, and act on home-rule charters for their cities and villages. The special question will be carried on the general election ballot this fall because the Michigan Constitution of 1908 requires such a referendum in every sixteenth year. The last time when Michigan, under the mandatory rule, voted on the call of a covention was in 1942. We were fighting a war, and changing the state constitution seemed pale by comparison. The voters' answer was NO. Yet, a majority of the members of the constitutional study commission (1941-42) and other students of the constitution held, even at that time, that the need for revision was extensive. And the succeeding years have seen no major, systematic review of the state's fundamental code. Voluntarily, the legislature, ten years ago, submitted the call of a con- vention to public referendum. This was in 1948. Although a majority of those voting on the issue then answered Yes, the call of a convention requires a majority of the votes cast in the election. So the call was defeated. The question of the necessary majority was settled by the Supreme Court of Michigan in People v. Board of State Canvassers.' It is difficult, for the reasons of the constitutional provisions on the necessary majority, to get a convention into session. The Call of a Convention A partisan rift exists in Michigan over the method of selecting dele- gates to a constitutional convention. The choice of the delegates to such a body is fixed by the constitution. Three must come from each of the state's 34 senatorial districts, or 102 in all. Other than requiring the use of the senatorial districts as constituencies, the constitution does not specify the manner of nomination and election of delegates. Currently, no statute govern- ing the details of nomination and election exists. Enrolled Senate Bill No. 1001 (1958) which provided for partisan nomination and election of the delegates was vetoed by Governor G. Mennen Williams, presumably because * B.S., 1925, Wesleyan University; M.A., 1926, Ph.D., 1928, Harvard University. Professor of Political Science, University of Michigan. Author of numerous books and some 100 articles and notes on American, Municipal, County and State Government, as well as comparative local government. 1. 323 Mich. 523, 35 N.W.2d 669 (1949). 96

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