Across Michigan, the summer of 2025 has brought a new wave of grassroots political activity, as volunteers hit the streets with clipboards in hand and a mission to reshape the state’s future. Several statewide campaigns have begun collecting signatures in hopes of putting major questions before voters in the 2026 general election. From ambitious tax reforms to voting system overhauls, the proposals reflect a growing appetite for direct democracy—and plenty of controversy along the way.
One of the most high-profile efforts is Invest in MI Kids, a campaign led by a coalition of educators, parents, and students determined to boost funding for Michigan’s K-12 schools. Their plan is straightforward but bold: impose an additional tax on the state’s highest earners—those making at least $500,000 a year as single filers or $1 million for couples—and funnel the revenue directly to the School Aid Fund. According to WEMU, organizers estimate this "fair share tax" could raise over $1 billion annually, with the funds earmarked for shrinking class sizes, retaining and attracting high-quality educators, and investing in career and technical education.
Molly Sweeney, director of 482 Forward and a key voice in the campaign, put it succinctly: “We want to raise an additional tax called the fair share tax for Michigan's K-12 public schools for reducing class size, retaining and attracting high-quality educators and investing in career and technical education.” The campaign’s focus on education resonates with many Michiganders who have watched school budgets tighten and teacher shortages worsen in recent years.
The road to the ballot, however, has not been without obstacles. On July 31, 2025, the Michigan Board of Canvassers voted unanimously to approve the Invest in MI Kids petition itself, but the panel deadlocked on whether to approve a summary of the proposal’s ballot language. Critics argue that the language isn’t clear enough about how the new tax revenue would be spent, raising concerns about transparency and accountability. Supporters, meanwhile, chalk up the deadlock to political wrangling and insist that their intent is clear: every dollar would go to Michigan schools.
Despite the setback, the campaign is forging ahead with its signature drive, which kicked off over the weekend of August 16–17, 2025. According to Michigan Public Radio, Imani Foster of the Invest in MI Kids coalition reported that 500 volunteers have already been trained, with nearly 1,000 signed up in total. The group has set an ambitious goal: collect around 700,000 signatures by February 14, 2026—well above the 446,000 required to put the measure on the ballot. “It’s not just getting it on the ballot. It’s also getting people to vote yes. So, we’re also spreading awareness the more we get people to sign this petition. And so, you should plan to see us pretty much everywhere across the state, at rallies, at all those kinds of things,” Foster told Michigan Public Radio.
Invest in MI Kids isn’t the only campaign making waves. Around a month earlier, the Rank MI Choice coalition launched its own signature drive after successfully clearing the Board of State Canvassers. Their proposal? Bring ranked-choice voting to Michigan for federal campaigns and key statewide offices, including governor, attorney general, and secretary of state. Ranked-choice voting, which allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference, has been lauded by some as a way to give people more meaningful choices—and criticized by others as a recipe for confusion and behind-the-scenes political dealmaking.
Joe Spaulding, campaign director for Rank MI Choice, says the response from voters has been overwhelmingly positive, especially among younger Michiganders who feel “trapped by the current system and their lack of choices.” Spaulding told Michigan Public Radio that the campaign has doubled its number of volunteers every 30 days for the past three months. “We’re having a lot of young people who have felt particularly trapped by the current system and their lack of choices signing up, not just to circulate the petition but thanking us for being available to them as an option, and then signing up to volunteer,” he said. The group points to New York City’s recent mayoral primary, which used ranked-choice voting, as evidence that the system can work in large, diverse electorates.
Still, critics worry that ranked-choice voting could encourage backroom deals between campaigns, as candidates might urge their supporters to rank certain rivals as second or third choices. Organizers counter that the system empowers voters to support the candidates they truly believe in, rather than simply the ones they think are most likely to win.
While these two campaigns are just ramping up, another effort—Ax MI Tax—has been quietly gathering steam since April. This campaign aims to eliminate all property taxes in Michigan, a move that would dramatically reshape how local services are funded. Founder Karla Wagner says the campaign is about halfway through its signature drive, relying on an all-volunteer team of roughly 2,000 people. “It’s a purely grass roots effort and volunteers. So, running a statewide campaign with volunteers at a grassroots level with very little money, that’s the challenge, but we’re doing what we can to get it out there and get it done,” Wagner told Michigan Public Radio.
The proposal has sparked heated debate. Opponents warn that abolishing property taxes could devastate funding for local essentials like libraries, parks, and emergency services—services that are often closest to residents’ daily lives. Supporters argue the petition would replace some of that lost revenue with state funds to keep critical government and infrastructure operating, though specifics remain a point of contention.
Beyond these headline-grabbing initiatives, other statewide campaigns are in various stages of organization. Some seek to tighten Michigan’s voter ID laws, a move that supporters say would safeguard elections and critics argue could suppress turnout. Others are targeting legislation passed in February 2025 that affects minimum wage and guaranteed sick leave policies, aiming either to strengthen or roll back those protections.
What unites these disparate efforts is their reliance on volunteer power. All three major constitutional amendment campaigns—Invest in MI Kids, Rank MI Choice, and Ax MI Tax—are, for now, relying solely on unpaid canvassers to collect signatures. It’s a testament to the energy and conviction of grassroots activists, but also a reminder of the uphill battle such campaigns face in a state as large and diverse as Michigan.
As the signature drives continue through the fall and winter, the campaigns will need not only to meet their numerical targets but also to sustain public enthusiasm and navigate the inevitable political and legal hurdles. With the 2026 general election still more than a year away, Michigan voters can expect to see—and hear—a lot more from these movements as they seek to shape the state’s future from the ground up.
The coming months will test the resolve of volunteers and the resonance of their ideas. Whether these measures ultimately appear on the ballot, and how voters respond if they do, could set the tone for Michigan’s policy debates for years to come.
