On Tuesday the Board of State Canvassers rejected the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (MCRI), a ballot initiative seeking a state constitutional amendment banning racial and gender preferences in public hiring, voting that they could not endorse it due to questions about both its constitutionality and how it has been represented to voters. While a state Board of Elections report found that the 500,000 signatures collected would likely meet the required 317,000 signatures to get the initiative on the ballot in November of 2006, the Board of Canvassers deadlocked on three motions to reject the signatures, voted down a motion to investigate opponents claims that the signatures were collected fraudulently, and reject a motion to approve the petition. The proposal is now expected to go back to the courts, where an effort to stop the petition drive was denied last year and where a ruling determined that the petition language was not misleading.

The petition has drawn widespread criticism since its launch in 2004, including criticism aimed at its financial backer, Ward Connerly, a conservative opposed to affirmative action who helped pass California’s Proposition 209 that banned affirmative action programs in hiring, contracting, and public school admissions.