What would happen if your town voted to get rid of itself? That’s the question facing Lake Orion, where residents say the taxes are too high and will now vote in November on whether to dissolve the village government and hand its responsibilities over to the township.

And Lake Orion isn’t the only Michigan village that is putting the question of dissolution before voters this year.

Today, The ’Gander’s Kyle Kaminski takes a closer look at why villages like Lake Orion are considering such a drastic step, and the questions that would arise if a village actually managed to pass the vote.

Plus: a quick guide to the two proposals Michiganders will see on their November ballot.

Whitmer says state to reconsider Enbridge permits (WLNS): Michigan environmental regulators are reconsidering permits for Enbridge’s Line 5 tunnel after a state Supreme Court ruling raised the bar for environmental reviews. The review does not cancel the permits, but adds uncertainty to the timeline of the project. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has urged Enbridge to pursue alternatives to moving oil through the Straits of Mackinac.

Voter ID initiative sets eyes on 2028 following failed effort (Michigan Advance): Supporters of Michigan’s proposed citizens-only voting amendment say they’ll return with a new ballot campaign in 2028 after the US and Michigan Supreme Courts rejected their efforts to put the measure on this year’s ballot. Election officials said the review followed established procedures, with the proposal falling three valid signatures short of the threshold in the state’s sampling process.

Legislation would ban e-bikes for kids under 14 (WILX): A Michigan lawmaker is proposing a ban on children under 14 riding electric bikes on Michigan’s public roads, sidewalks, and trails. The bill introduced by Republican State Sen. Jim Runestad would also require riders ages 14 to 17 to have parental permission and wear helmets.

(The ‘Gander TikTok)

Lake Orion in Oakland County is home to about 3,000 people, and next year, it might not exist. It’s not because everybody’s moving away or because a factory is closing, but because the people who live here put it on the ballot for themselves. And now in November, they’ll get to vote on whether to wipe their own town off the map.

Here’s the deal: Michigan has more than 250 villages, and a village isn’t a city, it sits inside a township. That usually means if you live in one, you get taxed twice. Once by the village, once by the township. In exchange, the village handles things like your streets, your parks, and sometimes your water and sewer.

Dissolving a village, in theory, means all of those duties get handed over to the township and the county. Your address stays the same. The village government just goes away. In Lake Orion, a resident collected signatures from 15% of voters to force the question onto the ballot. The council voted 7-0 to let it go straight to a vote. It now needs a two-thirds majority vote of village residents in November to pass.

And Lake Orion isn’t alone. For the past 20 years, roughly one Michigan village every three years has put this question on the ballot. This year, there are four. Sand Lake voted in May. More than half of voters said yes, but it wasn’t enough. Fife Lake, up near Traverse City, voted in August and narrowly kept its village. And Baroda, down in Berrien County, votes the same day as Lake Orion.

It’s worth noting no Michigan Village has ever voted itself out of existence, though a council member in Lake Orion told The ’Gander he thinks this one might have a shot. Taxes are just too high in Lake Orion, and people here don’t feel like they’re getting much back for them. And the numbers back that up. A University of Michigan survey found just 39% of village leaders now say their community is in good financial health. Two years ago, it was 61%.

So what? Well, this is what running out of options looks like in small-town Michigan. Costs keep climbing. The tax base doesn’t. And the people holding it all together are running on fumes. Up in Pellston, for instance, the village president is 87 years old, makes $14,000 a year, and has been trying to retire since the 90s because nobody will replace him.

At the end of the day, Lake Orion probably won’t clear that two-thirds vote. Nobody ever has. But that’s not really the story here. The story is that in a state with 250-some villages, four of them asked this question in a single year. And the fact that they’re asking at all should be setting off alarms in Lansing.

See the full story in this edition of so what? Michigan.

(Courtesy Photo/Michiganders for Money Out of Politics.)

By Kyle Kaminski

This year, hundreds of thousands of Michiganders were asked to sign petition drives seeking to change state laws or amend the state Constitution. Only one of those petitions gathered enough valid signatures and made it all the way through the certification process.

Paired with the question of whether Michigan should hold a Constitutional Convention, that means Michiganders will vote on two separate ballot proposals in November. The ballot became official in early September, after a pair of court rulings settled the last open question.

Here’s a quick guide to the two proposals.

By Abby Deatrick and 910 News

Poll workers, also called election inspectors, play an essential role in our election process. Becoming a Michigan poll worker is a great way to contribute to your community, help protect elections, and see the democratic process up close—all while getting paid. 

Here’s everything you need to know to become a poll worker in Michigan.

📣 Have an event to add? Email Abigail Deatrick, The ’Gander’s state organizing coordinator, with details. Please send submissions at least one week before the event.

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Thanks for reading. This newsletter was written by Karel Vega with stories from Kyle Kaminski, Abby Deatrick, and 910 News. It was edited by Crystal Niforos.

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