Judge throws out DTE-backed group’s lawsuit to prevent public power vote

Ann Arbor, Michigan, August 26, 2026. In an order dated yesterday, Washtenaw Trial Court Judge Patrick Conlin dismissed a lawsuit filed two weeks earlier to block a November ballot question on public power. The suit was brought by the Ann Arbor Responsible Energy Coalition (A2REC), a ballot question committee bankrolled almost entirely by DTE Energy, against the city of Ann Arbor and its clerk, Jacqueline Beaudry. The public power ballot proposal will remain on the November election ballot. “DTE desperately wanted to deny voters a choice this November,” said Brian Geiringer, executive director of Ann Arbor for Public Power (A2P2), which circulated petitions to qualify the measure for the ballot. “That’s the only reason A2REC filed this lawsuit.” 

The clerk had certified petitions with well over 5,000 valid voter signatures, meeting the required threshold of five percent of city registered voters. A2REC claimed Beaudry violated state law by accepting signatures in batches, rather than all at once, but Judge Conlin ruled that she acted correctly and within the discretion afforded her by the Michigan Home Rule City Act. 

“We’re not surprised that the Court affirmed the will of the people to decide on a public power option this November,” said A2P2 president Sean Higgins. “We submitted the petitions on time. But DTE clearly intends to defend its monopoly by any means, regardless of what residents want.” The proposed city charter amendment would create a new municipal electric utility as a department of city government, along with a process to select governing board members in 2028. This would be a first step towards breaking DTE’s monopoly on electricity distribution and establishing democratic control over energy decisions in Ann Arbor.

“Ann Arbor residents want their electric bill payments to fund grid maintenance and renewable power, not corporate profits and baseless lawsuits,” Geiringer said. “We look forward to making the case for public power this fall.”