BREAKING: Rank MI Vote Calls it Quits . . . for Now
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
Promise a return in 2027
By Kristine Christlieb, MFEI News & Commentary
December 18, 2025
Organizers of an initiative to put Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) on the Michigan ballot in 2026 have abandoned the effort.
According to reporting from Bridge Michigan, Rank MI Vote volunteers were notified via email Monday evening. The group is calling the end of their effort a “pause in the signature gathering effort, but we aren’t pausing the campaign to bring ranked choice voting to Michigan.”
Michigan Fair Elections Institute’s (MFEI) Founder and Chair Patrice Johnson did not hesitate to claim victory. “Our resources were limited, but we organized early and our leaders uncovered an army of Michiganders eager to join our opposition once they learned the truth about Ranked Choice Voting.”
Bridge Michigan identified official opposition from Michigan county clerks as a watershed moment for RCV’s defeat. According to Johnson, County clerks based their opposition on concepts and language MFEI developed. “We developed a position paper on Ranked Choice Voting that was widely distributed. We also drafted a resolution opposing RCV that was shared in town hall meetings across the state. These strategies proved to be very effective.”
MFEI’s effort was led by Wayne County volunteer Darlene Hennessy. “As early as February, we were organizing, reaching out to experts from other states who had successfully battled Ranked Choice Voting. We were passing out palm cards in the summer and simultaneously organizing town hall meetings on the topic.”
Hennessy continued: ‘We were sensing the RCV folks were losing momentum. When it came out they were short 200,000 signatures for their petitions, we were pretty confident of this eventuality.”
The announcement detonated a series of celebratory social media posts. Writing on X, Michigan State Representative Matt Maddock (R-51st District) labeled the defeat: “Tanked Choice Voting.”
RCV officials are saying to look for the effort to resume in April of 2027 for another shot at a ballot proposal in 2028. “We’ll be ready for them,” said Hennessy.
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