MI appeals court rules petition error keeps zoning question off local ballot

The Michigan Court of Appeals has rejected an effort to place a referendum to block a solar panel farm in the western Upper Peninsula on a local ballot. The unanimous decision by a three-judge panel was released Friday.

The appeals court held petition circulators ran afoul of Michigan election law by putting on the forms their mailing addresses, which listed a village different than their physical residential addresses.

The energy company developing the solar farm, Circle Power Renewables, objected to using the signatures on those petitions. Norway Township officials agreed 11 petition sheets were not valid. It would have taken 120 signatures to get the referendum on the ballot. The error left the campaign with half that number.

The plaintiff, Eric Wickman, wrote on the petition form that he lived in Vulcan, which is an unincorporated village that lies within Wauceda Township. The township was Wickman’s legal address.



https://www.wkar.org/wkar-news/2024-07-19/mi-appeals-court-rules-petition-error-keeps-zoning-question-off-local-ballot