Five elected officials in Green Township were recalled by voters Tuesday in Mecosta Township. Two others had resigned before the election. Voters also threw out a supervisor in neighboring Big Rapids Township. 

The recall election owed to a public backlash at the board’s approval of the Gotion electric vehicle battery project.

As the Associated Press reports:

The Green Township supervisor, clerk, treasurer and two trustees — all Republicans — were defeated Tuesday by challengers who listed no party affiliation.

The AP adds: “Nearby in Big Rapids Township, Supervisor Bill Stanek also was recalled. He, too, supported the factory.”

The Gotion project faced wide opposition across the community, but elected officials approved it anyway. Last December, the Green Township board approved the Gotion project in a 7-0 vote. All seven board members have now been replaced by new faces.

Gotion is a “wholly-owned” subsidiary of a Chinese firm. Critics from the local area to Lansing to the floor of the U.S. House have raised national security concerns about the unpopular project.

Correction: An earlier version of this story cited an incorrect roll call vote.

The Nov. 7 election cost Michigan Democrats their House majority. Reps. Kevin Coleman, D-Westland, and Lori Stone, D-Warren, won their mayoral races and will resign their seats in the House.

This will drop the Democrats from a 56-54 majority to a 54-54 tie. The total number of House members will drop from 110 to 108. By Michigan law, House votes require a majority of lawmakers, not just a majority of those present. A 108-member House requires 55 votes to pass a bill. Without at least one House Republican voting with Democrats, a bill will not pass.

In times past, a deadlocked House has led to a shared speakership.

But thanks to House Rule 77, House Speaker Joe Tate, D-Detroit, will hold the gavel alone when the House splits 54-54.

Rule 77 was the final House rule of the 102nd Legislature. Pictured below, Rule 77 sets the terms for an equally divided House.

Only in the event of a 55-55 tie is a new vote held for the Speaker. In a 54-54 tie it defaults to the current speaker, Tate.

Rule 77 was passed Jan. 11, in House Resolution 1 of 2023. The resolution passed in a voice vote, where no tally was taken.

The soon-to-be vacated House seats will now be subject to special runoff elections, which will likely take months.

This will not be the first time the Michigan House has been evenly divided. Thirty years ago there was a shared speakership in Michigan.

On Jan. 13, 1993, Reps. Curtis Hertel Sr., D-Detroit, and Paul Hillegonds, R-Holland, were unanimously elected co-speakers of the Michigan House.

As of Wednesday, Coleman and Stone still hold their seats and Democrats still hold a majority. Coleman is expected to take his new office Nov. 17, The Detroit News reports. Stone will assume her new office within weeks.