Resources - Michigan State Constitutional Convention Clearinghouse

November 202 Ballot Proposal 26-1: An Overview, Michigan Senate Fiscal Agency, Oct. 2, 2026 (the document is undated but this is when it was publicly released). Comment: This is a typical legislature's hit job on the convention process when it doesn't want to call one, but other states have produced worse. The author conveys no sense of why the periodic constitutional convention call referendum exists and relies on sources that appear equally confused. The cost estimate is better than expected but provides some poorly chosen analogies and no context. For example, how large are the estimated costs compared to the state's annual budget for government? How would the benefit of a successful convention compare to its cost? Why does a legislature only speculate upon a convention's costs when it is opposed to calling a convention?

Ballot Proposal #1 of 2010, Michigan House Fiscal Agency, Oct. 14, 2010.

Convention Specific Resources

Note: Some of the general resources in the left hand column link you to the resources below on specific conventions.

2026 Convention Call

Citizens Research Council of Michigan. Beginning Feb. 10, 2026, it released fifteen papers concerning the upcoming convention referendum. The papers were released at roughly two week intervals, focus on issues a convention might consider. Each of the 12 articles in Michigan's Constitution, including its Declaration of Rights, was scrutinized for possible improvements. The complete set of papers is compiled here. Note: Despite their apparent thoroughness, this collection of reports has notable omissions. For example, it doesn't note that Michigan's 1850 and 1867 conventions proposed multiple amendments, not only a single general revision. Nor does it either in this report or its many interviews with news media observe that a future convention would have the power to propose either incremental amendments or an entire rewrite of the constitution. Opponents of a convention prefer the latter framing because it makes a convention sound riskier. To be sure, Michigan does have a tradition of major revision but that doesn't mean it need continue that practice with a future convention. More problematically, it is weak on why this proposal is on the ballot. It is good with proximate explanations (the constitution requires it) and general explanations as to why the amendment process exists (to allow a constitution to change with the times). But that doesn't explain in a more ultimate sense why this particular type of constitutional change process was included in Michigan's Constitution. For a webinar that summarize the Citizens Research Council Reports, see
Understanding and Evaluating Proposal 26 1 Constitutional Revision, Sept. 23, 2026.

2010 Convention Call

A Brief Michigan Constitutional History, Citizens Research Council of Michigan, February 2012.

A Citizen’s Guide to Michigan Campaign Finance–2010, Michigan Campaign Finance Network, 2011. (See page 32).

Lehman, Joseph G., Constitutional Convention Won’t Fix Michigan’s Problems, Mackinac Center, April 1, 2010.

1994 Convention Call

A Brief Michigan Constitutional History, Citizens Research Council of Michigan, July 1994.

1978 Convention Call

Michigan Academy of Science, Arts & Letters. “Michigan’s 1978 Constitutional Convention Vote: An Analysis.” Note: Examines voter attitudes, campaign messaging, and partisan alignment.

Midwestern Political Science Association Papers (1979–1981). Note: Several conference papers analyzed why the 1978 referendum failed and how interest groups shaped the debate.

Detroit Free Press and Detroit News archives (1978).

1961-62 Convention

1963 Michigan Constitution, including 1961-1962 Michigan Constitutional Convention, Library of Michigan, Donna Christine Hellman State Constitutional Law Collection.

Michigan Conventions and Constitutions, Archives of Michigan, Lansing, MI.

State of Michigan Constitutional Convention 1961-1962 Official Record, Gale, Making of Modern Law.

Before 2026 constitutional convention vote, book documents Michigan's first women delegates in 1961, WKAR,, Oct. 20, 2025.

Lynn Liberato, Michigan’s Con-Con 11: Women and State Constitution-making in 1961, Michigan State University Press. 2025. Via Google Books.

CRC and the Con-Con, Citizens Research Council of Michigan, April 5, 2016.

Pollock, James K., Making Michigan's New Constitution 1961-1962, George Wahr Publishing Co., 1962.

Michigan Can Lead the Way: Michigan Constitutional Convention, Michigan History Center, 2009. 27 minute video.

Description: Michigan State Senator Tom George discusses the Constitutional Convention of 1963 with Constitutional Convention Delegate Eugene Wanger (This was produced in the context of the 2010 constiutional convention referendum.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-mEIF-FaFk

Liberato, Lynn, Con-Con’s Petticoat Revolt: Women at the 1961 Constitutional Convention, CHRONICLE magazine, Historical Society of Michigan, Summer 2023, pages 14-17.

1907-8 Convention

John A. Fairlie, The Michigan Constitutional Convention, 6 Mich. L. Rev. 533 (1908).

1873 Constitutional Commission

The Constitution Of Michigan With Amendments Thereto: As Recommended By The Constitutional Commission Of 1873, Michigan Constitutional Commission, 1873.

1850 Constitutional Convention

Books on 1850 Constitutional Convntion, University of Pennsylvania.

1835 Constitutional Convention

1835 Michigan Constitution, Michiganology.