[Source.](https://thefederalist.com/2023/09/28/lawsuit-democrats-election-takeover-ballot-amendments-violate-the-michigan-and-u-s-constitutions/) > Two recently approved, Democrat-backed constitutional amendments overhauling Michigan’s elections violate the state and U.S. Constitutions, a lawsuit filed on Thursday claims. > Brought in federal court by 11 Michigan state legislators against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, and the director of Michigan’s Bureau of Elections, the lawsuit contends that two constitutional ballot amendments approved by voters — one in 2018 and the other in 2022 — violate the elections clause of the U.S. Constitution, which stipulates that the “Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof.” > In the suit, the plaintiffs argue that since both amendments alter the state’s election laws and were passed via the ballot amendment process, the changes they made to the Michigan electoral system are invalid because the U.S. Constitution provides the power to implement those changes with the state legislature. The legislators further contend that the Michigan Constitution “vests the legislative power in the state senate members and house of representatives members, including the right to regulate the times, places, and manner of federal elections.”