{"id":8261,"date":"2025-11-13T13:21:05","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T18:21:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/senatedems.com\/moss\/?p=8261"},"modified":"2025-11-13T13:21:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T18:21:07","slug":"michigan-senate-advances-reforms-to-ensure-fair-transparent-petition-process-combat-election-disinformation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.senatedems.com\/moss\/2025\/11\/13\/michigan-senate-advances-reforms-to-ensure-fair-transparent-petition-process-combat-election-disinformation\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan Senate Advances Reforms to Ensure Fair, Transparent Petition Process, Combat Election Disinformation\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

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LANSING, Mich. (Nov. 13, 2025) \u2014 Today, the Michigan Senate passed with bipartisan support a comprehensive bill package that tackles election disinformation and improves transparency and integrity in the petition circulation process. Championed by Sens. Jeremy Moss <\/b>(D-Bloomfield), Jeff Irwin <\/b>(D-Ann Arbor), Senate Bills (SB) 529-531 would implement commonsense reforms that ensure our state’s elections are as effective, transparent, and reliable as possible.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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The package also includes SB 533, sponsored by Sen. Mary Cavanagh <\/b>(D-Redford Twp.) that passed out of the Senate earlier this year and would prohibit intentionally making false statements or misrepresenting election information.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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\u201cEvery election cycle, we hear reports of petition circulators engaging in deceptive practices that erode faith in the process to place candidates and proposals on the ballot. A person should be able to grow support for their cause based on its own merit, not by misrepresenting what the petitions will do,\u201d said Sen. Moss<\/b>, Chairman of the Senate Elections and Ethics Committee. \u201cWe must set up the safeguards needed to ensure voters can participate in an effective and trustworthy process to help shape the future of our state.\u201d\u00a0<\/div>\n
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SB 529<\/a><\/u><\/span> would ban petition organizers from paying circulators per signature, joining other states that remove this financial incentive for circulators to lie to voters to gain their support. SB 530<\/a><\/u><\/span> would require circulators to direct potential signers to a factual summary of the ballot proposal\u2019s contents and purpose before collecting their signature. SB 531<\/a><\/u><\/span> would ensure that only one signature is counted if two identical signatures appear on a single petition. SB 533<\/a><\/u><\/span> would prohibit false statements or misrepresentations concerning elections, ensuring that bad actors would be fined and penalized.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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\u201cWhen citizens participate in direct democracy through the petition process, they should be able to know that their valid signature will not be thrown out,\u201d said Sen Irwin<\/b>. \u201cMichigan has a lively democracy that produces a lot of initiative petitions, and it can be hard for even the most informed voter to keep track of whether they have already signed a particular version of a petition. Multiple signatures from the same person are all thrown out under current law, disenfranchising citizens. My bill has a simple solution: if a person signs more than once, one and only one signature would be counted. Senate Bill 531 would give citizens the confidence to sign petitions they support without fear that they might run afoul of the law or inadvertently invalidate their own signature.\u201d\u00a0<\/div>\n
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\u201cAs someone who has been an election worker, I have witnessed firsthand the detrimental impacts that election disinformation can have on our democracy. In recent years, we have witnessed targeted disinformation campaigns within some of the most underserved communities in our state, like posting signs telling folks that polling places are closed or disingenuous robocalls with false election information aimed at restricting Michiganders\u2019 right to vote,\u201d said Sen. Cavanagh<\/b>. \u201cMy legislation would continue to create a more transparent election process by criminalizing false election statements or misrepresentations, ensuring that our state\u2019s elections are safe, truthful, and fair while holding unethical bad actors accountable for violations. Let\u2019s get this done to show the people of Michigan that another election cycle does not pass without these protections for communities across our state.\u201d\u00a0<\/div>\n
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\u201cPetitions are meant to reflect the will of the people. But too many candidates and bad actors have manipulated our state\u2019s petition circulation process for their own financial or political gain,\u201d said Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson<\/b>. \u201cThese bills will ban financial incentives to generate fraudulent signatures on petitions and require that circulators provide a factual summary of the proposal\u2019s contents. Michigan voters deserve to know the truth about what they’re being asked to sign, and these bills ensure they will get it.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/div>\n
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\u201cMichigan voters deserve to have confidence that their system of elections is fair, accurate, and secure. The improvements outlined in this package will help encourage civic engagement statewide, while closing a loophole in our current statute which we have seen bad actors misuse for their fraudulent aims. I applaud the Senate for advancing this vital legislation and will continue my advocacy for its passage as it moves to the House,\u201d said Attorney General Dana Nessel<\/b>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/div>\n
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This legislation now heads to the House of Representatives for further deliberation.\u00a0\u00a0<\/div>\n
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###\u00a0<\/div>\n

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LANSING, Mich. (Nov. 13, 2025) \u2014 Today, the Michigan Senate passed with bipartisan support a comprehensive bill package that tackles election disinformation and improves transparency and integrity in the petition […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":6914,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","twitterCardType":"","cardImageID":0,"cardImage":"","cardTitle":"","cardDesc":"","cardImageAlt":"","cardPlayer":"","cardPlayerWidth":0,"cardPlayerHeight":0,"cardPlayerStream":"","cardPlayerCodec":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-release"],"yoast_head":"\nMichigan Senate Advances Reforms to Ensure Fair, Transparent Petition Process, Combat Election Disinformation\u00a0 - Senator Jeremy Moss<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.senatedems.com\/moss\/2025\/11\/13\/michigan-senate-advances-reforms-to-ensure-fair-transparent-petition-process-combat-election-disinformation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Michigan Senate Advances Reforms to Ensure Fair, Transparent Petition Process, Combat Election Disinformation\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"LANSING, Mich. (Nov. 13, 2025) \u2014 Today, the Michigan Senate passed with bipartisan support a comprehensive bill package that tackles election disinformation and improves transparency and integrity in the petition […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.senatedems.com\/moss\/2025\/11\/13\/michigan-senate-advances-reforms-to-ensure-fair-transparent-petition-process-combat-election-disinformation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Senator Jeremy Moss\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-13T18:21:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-13T18:21:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.senatedems.com\/moss\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2023\/06\/election-reformImages-1202146477.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2121\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1414\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jlindsay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"jlindsay\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.senatedems.com\/moss\/2025\/11\/13\/michigan-senate-advances-reforms-to-ensure-fair-transparent-petition-process-combat-election-disinformation\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.senatedems.com\/moss\/2025\/11\/13\/michigan-senate-advances-reforms-to-ensure-fair-transparent-petition-process-combat-election-disinformation\/\",\"name\":\"Michigan Senate Advances Reforms to Ensure Fair, Transparent Petition Process, Combat Election Disinformation\u00a0 - 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