The defeat of Proposal 1 left observers groping for appropriate language – wipeout, thumping and, perhaps inevitably, roadkill.

But this was no hyperbole.

Proposal 1, which would have raised the sales tax 17 percent while simultaneously changing the way fuel is taxed and making numerous other changes in state law and its constitution, wasn’t just rejected by voters, it was rejected with extreme prejudice. And the rejection bore no relation to road conditions in individual counties.

Proposal 1 lost in every one of Michigan’s 83 counties. In 62 of them, “no” votes exceeded 80 percent, with two (Gladwin and Arenac) over 90 percent. The strongest support came from Washtenaw County, where 35.4 percent voted in favor, which means it still lost there by nearly 2-1. And it lost, on average, by 86-14 in the six counties with highest percentage of roads ranked as “poor.”

Rejection of the roads measure also flouted political assumptions. It was crushed 81-19 in heavily Democratic Wayne County, where President Obama got his biggest victory in 2012. And it was defeated 77-23 in Ottawa County, the most Republican county in the state and where Gov. Rick Snyder – Proposal 1’s biggest supporter – got his biggest win just a year ago.

The only glimmer of correlation between road quality and results – and it is a faint and perhaps surprising one – was in Kalamazoo, where roads are among the state’s best, and yet Proposal 1 got 32.7 percent “yes” votes, third-highest in the state.

These maps shade the state’s counties by road quality and voting results. Hover over each county to see how each voted and the condition of its roads.

Data presentations by Mike Wilkinson from various sources.

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Good roads or bad, Proposal 1 hated equally across Michigan

by Nancy Derringer, Bridge Michigan
May 7, 2015

<h1>Good roads or bad, Proposal 1 hated equally across Michigan</h1> <p class="byline">by Nancy Derringer, Bridge Michigan <br />May 7, 2015</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> </p> <p>body { margin:40; padding:40; }</p> <p> #map { position:relative; align:right; width:100%; height:525px;}<br /> #map2 { position:relative; align:right; width:100%; height:450px;}<br /> .map-tooltip {<br /> right: 10px;<br /> top: 30px;<br /> }<br /> .my-legend .legend-title {<br /> text-align: left;<br /> margin-bottom: 8px;<br /> font-weight: bold;<br /> font-size: 90%;<br /> }<br /> .my-legend .legend-scale ul {<br /> margin: 0;<br /> padding: 0;<br /> float: left;<br /> list-style: none;<br /> }<br /> .my-legend .legend-scale ul li {<br /> display: block;<br /> float: left;<br /> width: 50px;<br /> margin-bottom: 6px;<br /> text-align: center;<br /> font-size: 80%;<br /> list-style: none;<br /> }<br /> .my-legend ul.legend-labels li span {<br /> display: block;<br /> float: left;<br /> height: 15px;<br /> width: 50px;<br /> }<br /> .my-legend .legend-source {<br /> font-size: 70%;<br /> color: #999;<br /> clear: both;<br /> }<br /> .my-legend a {<br /> color: #777;<br /> }</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p> &nbsp;</p> <div class="wp-related"> <h3>Road conditions no factor in Prop 1 vote</h3> <p>Counties with the worst roads in Michigan were just as likely to soundly reject Proposal 1 as those with relatively good ones. Here is a county-by-county look at road conditions; hover over a county to see how it voted on Tuesday. Counties were ranked 1-83 in order of percentage of poor-quality roads, with No. 1 having the best roads and No. 83 the worst.</p> <div id="map">&nbsp;</div> <div class="my-legend"> <div class="legend-title">Percent of roads in poor shape, 2014</div> <div class="legend-scale"> <ul class="legend-labels"> <li>10% to 25%</li> <li>25 to 50%</li> <li>50% or more</li> </ul> </div> <div class="legend-source">Source: <a href="http://tamc.mcgi.state.mi.us/MITRP/Council/Default_Council.aspx#">Michigan Transportation Asset Management Council.</a></div> </div> </div> <p>The defeat of Proposal 1 left observers groping for appropriate language – <a href="http://www.gongwer.com/programming/news.cfm?article_ID=540890101#sthash.8ijQCmL6.dpbs">wipeout,</a> <a href="http://www.detroitnews.com"> thumping</a> and, perhaps inevitably, <a href="michigan_voters_made_road_kill.html"> roadkill.</a></p> <p>But this was no hyperbole.</p> <p>Proposal 1, which would have raised the sales tax 17 percent while simultaneously changing the way fuel is taxed and making numerous other changes in state law and its constitution, wasn’t just rejected by voters, it was rejected with extreme prejudice. And the rejection bore no relation to road conditions in individual counties.</p> <p>Proposal 1 lost in every one of Michigan’s 83 counties. In 62 of them, “no” votes exceeded 80 percent, with two (Gladwin and Arenac) over 90 percent. The strongest support came from Washtenaw County, where 35.4 percent voted in favor, which means it still lost there by nearly 2-1. And it lost, on average, by 86-14 in the six counties with highest percentage of roads ranked as “poor.”</p> <p>Rejection of the roads measure also flouted political assumptions. It was crushed 81-19 in heavily Democratic Wayne County, where President Obama got his biggest victory in 2012. And it was defeated 77-23 in Ottawa County, the most Republican county in the state and where Gov. Rick Snyder – Proposal 1’s biggest supporter – got his biggest win just a year ago.</p> <p>The only glimmer of correlation between road quality and results – and it is a faint and perhaps surprising one – was in Kalamazoo, where roads are among the state’s best, and yet Proposal 1 got 32.7 percent “yes” votes, third-highest in the state.</p> <p>These maps shade the state’s counties by road quality and voting results. Hover over each county to see how each voted and the condition of its roads.</p> <div class="wp-related"> <h3>Opposition widespread</h3> <p>No county in the state supported Proposal 1. Here is a county-by-county look at the levels of opposition; hover over a county to see how it voted on Tuesday.</p> <div id="map2">&nbsp;</div> <div class="my-legend"> <div class="legend-title">Percent opposed to Proposal 1</div> <div class="legend-scale"> <ul class="legend-labels"> <li>60 to 70%</li> <li>70 to 80%</li> <li>More than 80%</li> </ul> </div> <div class="legend-source">Source: <a href="http://miboecfr.nictusa.com/election/results/15SG1/90000001.html">Michigan Secretary of State.</a></div> </div> </div> <p> L.mapbox.accessToken = 'pk.eyJ1IjoibWlrZTYzd2lsa2JyaWRnZSIsImEiOiJrWFNocHQ0In0.BaUYcAd7JEndc90e3TiU-Q';<br /> // Define a map without a Map ID so we<br /> // have to add each part of it manually.<br /> var map = L.mapbox.map('map', undefined,<br /> {<br /> minZoom: 6,<br /> maxZoom: 6,<br /> legendControl: {<br /> // Any of the valid control positions:<br /> // https://www.mapbox.com/mapbox.js/api/v2.1.5/l-control/#control-positions<br /> position: 'bottomleft'<br /> }<br /> });</p> <p>// The visible tile layer<br /> L.mapbox.tileLayer('mike63wilkbridge.MichiganRoads2014').addTo(map);</p> <p>// Load interactivity data into the map with a gridLayer<br /> var myGridLayer = L.mapbox.gridLayer('mike63wilkbridge.MichiganRoads2014').addTo(map);</p> <p>// And use that interactivity to drive a control the user can see.<br /> var myGridControl = L.mapbox.gridControl(myGridLayer).addTo(map);</p> <p>// Finally, center the map.<br /> map.setView([45.6, -86.2], 6);</p> <p>map.dragging.disable();<br /> map.touchZoom.disable();<br /> map.doubleClickZoom.disable();<br /> map.scrollWheelZoom.disable();</p> <p> L.mapbox.accessToken = 'pk.eyJ1IjoibWlrZTYzd2lsa2JyaWRnZSIsImEiOiJrWFNocHQ0In0.BaUYcAd7JEndc90e3TiU-Q';<br /> // Define a map without a Map ID so we<br /> // have to add each part of it manually.<br /> var map = L.mapbox.map('map2', undefined,<br /> {<br /> minZoom: 6,<br /> maxZoom: 6,<br /> legendControl: {<br /> // Any of the valid control positions:<br /> // https://www.mapbox.com/mapbox.js/api/v2.1.5/l-control/#control-positions<br /> position: 'bottomleft'<br /> }<br /> });</p> <p>// The visible tile layer<br /> L.mapbox.tileLayer('mike63wilkbridge.Prop1').addTo(map);</p> <p>// Load interactivity data into the map with a gridLayer<br /> var myGridLayer = L.mapbox.gridLayer('mike63wilkbridge.Prop1').addTo(map);</p> <p>// And use that interactivity to drive a control the user can see.<br /> var myGridControl = L.mapbox.gridControl(myGridLayer).addTo(map);</p> <p>// Finally, center the map.<br /> map.setView([45.1, -86.5], 6);</p> <p>map.dragging.disable();<br /> map.touchZoom.disable();<br /> map.doubleClickZoom.disable();<br /> map.scrollWheelZoom.disable(); </p> <p><em>Data presentations by Mike Wilkinson from various sources.</em></p> <p>This &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://bridgemi.com/michigan-government/good-roads-or-bad-proposal-1-hated-equally-across-michigan/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://bridgemi.com&quot;&gt;Bridge Michigan&lt;/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/&quot;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i0.wp.com/bridgemi.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/cropped-android-chrome-192x192-1.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;amp;ssl=1&quot; style=&quot;width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;&quot;&gt;&lt;img id=&quot;republication-tracker-tool-source&quot; src=&quot;https://bridgemi.com/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=10515&amp;amp;ga4=G-1E2G9MSHX5&quot; style=&quot;width:1px;height:1px;&quot;&gt;&lt;script&gt; PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: &quot;https://bridgemi.com/michigan-government/good-roads-or-bad-proposal-1-hated-equally-across-michigan/&quot;, urlref: window.location.href }); } } &lt;/script&gt; &lt;script id=&quot;parsely-cfg&quot; src=&quot;//cdn.parsely.com/keys/bridgemi.com/p.js&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;</p> Copy to Clipboard

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