A new twist today on one group’s push to ban horizontal fracking in Michigan.
Today the Board of State Canvassers met and rejected the groups petition saying it took too long for them to collect all the signatures needed.
Back in 2015 organizers started collecting signatures to put the question of a fracking ban on the ballot. But they didn’t get enough signatures.
The group decided to keep going and submitted more than 270,000 signatures slightly above the 252,000 in 2018.
But, the Director of Elections refused to accept the signatures because the group did not gather them during a 180 day period.
It’s been a back and forth battle since, with the clearest ruling being made by the Michigan Court of Appeals in April. The court ruled that the petition must be treated as having been filed in 2018.
After today’s decision, the group will be allowed to argue the constitutionality of the 180 day limit to collect signatures to the state supreme court.
Organizers say they want the people to decide.
“This has been a very long road that all of our volunteers and our signers have gone through and we really deserve the right to be heard in the courts now and we do want to be placed in the ballot 2020,” said LuAnne Kozma, the campaign director of the Committee to Ban Fracking in Michigan.
