According to corporate news outlets, the Michigan Board of Canvassers has failed to comply with a court order to put the controversial Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (MCRI) on the ballot. The MCRI, which would ban many affirmative action programs in Michigan including in university admissions and government hiring, has drawn intense criticism both for the initiative’s intent as well as the methods used to obtain signatures which involved misrepresenting the initiative as a measure that would promote “civil rights” in the state. The Board of Canvassers’ vote ended in a deadlock with two Republicans voting in favor, one Democrat voting against it, and another Democrat abstaining.

The vote was delayed earlier in the day for two hours when a crowd of 250 Detroit area high school students disrupted the meeting with chants of “They say Jim Crow. We say Hell No” and surged towards the board before Lansing police were called in. In July of 2005 the Board rejected the Initiative, voicing concerns that many of the signatures had been collected by misrepresenting the Initiative as a pro-affirmative action measure.