Statline.org: Affirmative action on Michigan ballot
A proposal on Michigan’s ballot to ban racial and gender preferences in public university admissions and government hiring – in effect, to end affirmative action – has led to table-tossing protests, accusations of fraud and deception, and a string of court battles.
This year’s election has reignited the state’s contentious debate over affirmative action, last settled in 2003 when the U.S. Supreme Court scrutinized the University of Michigan’s admissions processes. The high court threw out the undergraduate school’s system that awarded extra points to minority applicants, but it upheld the law school’s admissions process that took race into consideration but did not award points.
The Michigan ballot measure would end preferences for women and minorities and is modeled after proposals passed by voters in California in 1996 and Washington state in 1998. All three ballot campaigns were spearheaded by African-American businessman Ward Connerly, formerly a University of California regent.
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