Proposal 1, which would have called for Michigan to hold a convention to rewrite the state constitution, has been rejected by voters for the fourth time since the 1963 constitution was ratified.
According to unofficial results from the New York Times, 75% of voters rejected the ballot measure. The Times called the results with 15% of the votes tallied.
The 1963 Michigan constitution requires the measure to appear on the ballot every 16 years. The proposal appeared before voters three times in the past, failing each time.
If it had passed, delegates would have been elected from every Michigan state House and Senate district to rewrite the Michigan constitution. Voters would then have had the final say on the new constitution in the November 2027 election.
Past “con-con” proposals failed by wide margins, though the support grew increasing larger each time.
September polling from the Detroit News and WDIV local 4, showed that nearly a majority of respondents were open to the idea of a constitutional convention. However, more recent polling showed that sentiment change as the midterms grew closer.
Dan Kildee, a former Democratic congressman from Flint, who advocated against Proposal 1, told WCMU voters have shown an understanding of what the proposal could have meant for Michigan.
"I think the voters were able to discern that this is not the way that we should make changes to the Michigan Constitution," Kildee said. "When we make changes, we should do it with specific initiatives around a very narrow and specific question."
Kildee said he was worried that voters were going to approve the proposal.
"My fear was that voters would see this as a way to express their disagreement or disappointment with the political status quo," Kildee said. "In other words, they would see this as a chance to kind of challenge the conventional political environment that we're in."
Not many lawmakers came out in support of the con-con. Michigan State House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland, and Republican state Sen. Aric Nesbitt both spoke in favor of it at the Mackinaw Policy Center’s 2025 conference.
Hall said that "they stuff so many things into this constitution," referring to ballot proposals to amend the constitution, such as legalizing marijuana.
On the flip side, a coalition of over 60 organizations in the state from across the political aisle — including the League of Women Voters, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, the Michigan Education Association, United Auto Workers, and Michigan AFL-CIO — came together to oppose a constitutional convention.
Voters Not Politicians was one of the coalition members. Spokesperson Melinda Billingsley said Proposal 1 had the potential to put voters rights at risk.
"We're really excited to see that voters heard that message and realized that we want to protect our constitution and keep constitutional amendments in the hands of voters, not an elected group of politicians," Billingsley said.
Billingsley, like Kildee, was worried Michiganders would vote in favor of Proposal 1 because they might perceive it as a protest against the political establishment.
"It would have just opened us up to allowing a lot of big money corporate interests to buy the elections of delegates and influence the redrafting of that constitutional amendment," Billingsley said. "We're just really happy that we were able to get the word out and let folks know that, really, the best choice for voters in this case was still to vote no and keep the constitution in our own hands."
