LANSING – Supporters were nervously confident Proposal 1 would win on Tuesday, after expending a massive education effort on the confusing ballot language. And that confidence was easily vindicated as the issue was approved by the voters in a massive landslide.

The percentage numbers between yes and no votes was almost monotonously similar all through the night, with yes votes nabbing 69 percent and the no votes just 31 percent.

With 98 percent of the vote counted, the proposal had 827,003 votes yes to 365,439 votes no.

The proposal slashes Michigan’s unpopular personal property tax paid by businesses. To make up the revenues the tax now pays local governments, the proposal moves and dedicates revenues from the use tax to local governments. That will leave a hole in the General Fund, but supporters of the proposal hope that expanded business in the state will help cover that shortfall.

“The bipartisan passage of Proposal 1 is another successful step in Michigan’s economic reinvention and a great victory for the small business owners and our manufacturing companies throughout our state as well as our local communities,” Governor Rick Snyder said in an election statement.

There was no organized opposition to the proposal, so no one made a statement on its victory.

But a number of people – both liberal activists and tea party voters – had announced on social media they were opposing the proposal.

Businesses and local governments wanted the proposal to pass. They feared, as one lobbyist representing local agencies said Tuesday morning, that if the proposal was defeated, the Legislature would eventually end the unpopular tax without restoring any funds to local governments.

Samantha Harkins of the Michigan Municipal League said her members “worked really hard,” with city councils passing resolutions and mayors publicly urging voters to support the proposal.

Harkins said she hoped the education effort played a major effort in the victory.

It appears the proposal will win every county in the state. The only county where it appeared even to have a close contest was in Schoolcraft County, where the proposal won by 104 votes.

Education was a key to getting the proposal passed, and the campaign supporting it spent millions on the effort to win voters over with television ads and a flood of mailed pieces.

Last week, Chuck Hadden, president of the Michigan Manufacturers Association, a major supporter of the victory effort, said early polling showed that fewer than 40 percent of the respondents supported the proposal. But when the issue was explained, support went up significantly.

And explanations were needed since the ballot language, which was written by lawmakers, seemed utterly bewildering to many people as it made no mention of the Personal Property Tax.

Howard Edelson, campaign manager for Michigan Citizens for Strong and Safe Communities – the organization backing the proposal – said Michigan voters “are intuitively smart when it comes to voting.”

He said the greatest campaign challenge was to organize a statewide campaign on a hyper-local basis on an issue “that no one knew anything about or had any passion for,” he said. “We had to educate voters with a simplified message on the benefits of voting yes for Proposal 1.”

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