LANSING, Mich. — Reproductive Freedom for All organizers turned in over 753,000 ballot initiative signatures to the Michigan Secretary of State's Office on Monday.
The organizers held a press conference at the Lasing Center ahead of turning in their 753,759 signatures. The group had over 62,000 volunteers collecting signatures across all of Michigan's counties. Those volunteers ended up collecting over 911,000 signatures.
FOX 47 News interviewed a co-founder of one of the organizations, Distill Social, that helped to gather signatures last week. Distill Social had 600 volunteers in over 40 Michigan counties and collected about 55,000 for the ballot initiative.
"Following its January launch, the Reproductive Freedom for All campaign gained historic momentum with people across Michigan signing up to take action in support. The volunteer efforts statewide made this petition process a historic success, calling on all Michiganders to join the fight to keep abortion legal in Michigan," Reproductive Freedom for All said on Facebook. "This is the first citizen-initiated constitutional amendment ballot measure that would enshrine abortion access – and the right to make all decisions regarding reproductive health, including birth control, miscarriage care, prenatal care, and childbirth – in a state constitution."
One of the volunteers, Sara Maurer, said that she received a lot of positive response from the petition.
"I was in a very conservative area, so I didn't know what the response would be, but the response was very positive. There was very little push back," Maurer said.
Another petition, Promote the Vote 2022, delivered more than 669,000 signatures to the Secretary of States Office Monday.
“Today, Promote the Vote 2022 delivered 669,972 petition signatures from Michigan voters who want to make sure their voices are heard and their votes counted in every election,” Micheal Davis, executive director of Promote the Vote, said in a news release. “The Promote the Vote 2022 campaign is extremely grateful to our team of partner organizations who worked tirelessly to gather signatures from every corner of our state. Michiganders demand and deserve to know they can vote safely, securely and conveniently, and we are already building momentum for the months leading up to the November General Election."
"All voices count. I retired a few years ago, and I wanted to do something," Promote the Vote 2022 volunteer Charlene Vanacker said.
Both initiatives need 425,059 valid signatures in order to be on the Nov. 8 ballot as constitutional amendments.
The deadline to submit signatures is Monday, July 11 at 5 p.m.
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