Mich. voters could face 12 ballot proposals in 2016

Inside Michigan Politics has taken a look ahead at 2016 and concluded that we may be in for another bedsheet ballot in 2016, with the potential for up to 12 proposals for voters to decide.

Susan Demas, editor and publisher of IMP, sums up the wide-ranging proposals that are "in the ether" as petition drives get underway:
"Michigan voters found themselves drowning in ballot proposals in November 2012, with six to sort through. (That’s by no means the record — there were 12 in November 1978).
"There’s already been talk about another dozen ballot measures for 2016. But some, like a part-time Legislature, are perennial ideas that have never gotten off the ground. Others, like the three (yes, three) measures legalizing marijuana, look to be far more organized (well, at least two of them), increasing the odds of something making it to the ballot.
"The list doesn’t even include the newly announced prevailing wage repeal petition drive, aimed at going around Gov. Rick Snyder. That probably won’t even go on the ballot. It would first go before the Legislature, which could enact the law without obtaining the skeptical governor’s signature (a technique perfected by Right to Life of Michigan)."
In one instance, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce has already launched a pre-emptive strike, urging voters not to sign petitions being circulated that would ban the "fracking" process in oil exploration projects.
Here’s a roundup of potential ballot proposals, each of which Demas has analyzed in some detail:
* Legalizing marijuana (three different approaches)
* Graduated income tax
* Vote by mail
* Redistricting reform
* Gay rights
* Scrapping no-fault auto insurance reform
* Part-time Legislature
* Road funding
* A mystery energy proposal, possibly to strike down electric choice in Michigan