Protecting the Civil Rights of Voters

Fraud is Claimed on Ballot Initiative

Detroit Free Press

By Dawson Bell and Chris Christoff, Free Press Staff Writers
January 12, 2006

Opponents of a proposed constitutional amendment to ban the use of race and gender in government hiring and contracting and university admissions told a state civil rights panel Wednesday in Detroit that they believe massive fraud was committed in the collection of signatures to put the issue before voters.

Among the witnesses was the chairwoman of the Macomb County National Association for the Advancement of Colored People who said she witnessed a person collecting signatures for the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative tell prospective signers that she had endorsed the proposal.

"I was appalled that he so blatantly used the name of the NAACP... to lie to people," said Ruthie Stevenson of Mt. Clemens, who was among more than 300 people at a hearing sponsored by the Michigan Civil Rights Commission in Detroit's New Center.

Commission Chairman Mark Bernstein told the audience the hearing was "extraordinarily important" because it involved the fundamental civil right of voting.

"To ignore these allegations would be to ignore our job," he said.

It is unclear what authority the commission has to intervene on the proposal. MCRI submitted more than 500,000 signatures on petitions, well over the 317,000 valid signatures needed to put the issue before voters.

Director of communications for the commission Trevor Coleman said after the hearing concluded that more sessions will be scheduled. He said the commission may have limited authority to act on the complaint but "at a minimum it gave citizens who felt aggrieved an opportunity to share their concerns."

But some of the witnesses Wednesday said they won't be satisfied unless the proposal is scuttled.

Detroiter Benita King said she was deceived into believing the petitions supported affirmative action.

"I demand my name be removed from this petition and that this petition should never see the light of day," King said.

Not attending the hearing were supporters of the initiative. MCRI leaders said earlier Wednesday that state civil rights officials were avowed opponents of the proposal and incapable of conducting a fair or useful inquiry.

MCRI Director Jennifer Gratz also denied wrongdoing in the collection of signatures. Michigan elections officials have certified more than 400,000 of the signatures submitted by MCRI as valid.

"We've heard a lot of testimony from people who thought that they were signing something to uphold affirmative action, not to end it," said state Sen. Hansen Clarke, D-Detroit, who plans to introduce legislation making it a crime to mislead people for the purpose of a ballot initiative.

The pro-affirmative action group By Any Means Necessary, which claimed that state elections and law enforcement officials had ignored the complaints, sought Wednesday's hearing.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who was in Detroit Wednesday, said the hearing was necessary, but she acknowledged that the commission likely is powerless.

"I think it's important that the allegations of deception and fraud in the gathering of signatures be aired," Granholm said at the 2006 North American International Auto Show.

Copyright 2006 Detroit News