Michigan Lawmaker Demands Secretary of State Review Long-Filed ‘Unlock Michigan’ Petitions

A Michigan legislator is calling on Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) to review petitions submitted that would require the legislature to vote on repealing an emergency powers law used by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) during the coronavirus pandemic.

“Unlock Michigan” filed over 500,000 signatures in October from voters who want the legislature to repeal a 1945 Emergency Powers of the Governor Act, a law Whitmer used to issue virus-related executive orders.

If the legislature rejects a repeal, the question would then be put on the 2022 ballot.

Shortly after the group filed the signatures, the state Supreme Court ruled the law, and therefore Whitmer’s orders, unconstitutional.

“It has been more than three months since Unlock Michigan submitted the petitions to the Secretary of State on Oct. 2, 2020, and recent media reports indicate that not a single signature on the petitions has been reviewed by the office you oversee,” state Rep. Mike Mueller wrote in a letter to Benson on Wednesday.

“The Legislature, serving as the representatives of the people, recently approved a bill to repeal this section of law, which has already been ruled unconstitutional by the highest court in the state. The governor vetoed it,” he said.

“The citizens of our state took it upon themselves to initiate the repeal through their own petition process so that it cannot be blocked by the governor – and it is critically important that the voices of the people are not silenced,” Mueller wrote.

Unlock Michigan is required to have at least 340,047 valid signatures to force the legislature to vote, he said.

Jake Rollow, communications director for Benson, told Breitbart News the Bureau of Elections is in “the early stages of review” of the petitions.

“They will continue to work efficiently and expect to be done long before the July 2022 deadline,” he said.

ABC 12 reported the legislature passed a bill repealing the Emergency Powers of the Governor Act, but Whitmer vetoed it in late December.

Kyle Olson is a reporter for Breitbart News. He is also host of “The Kyle Olson Show,” syndicated on Michigan radio stations on Saturdays–download full podcast episodes. Follow him on Parler.