Michigan voters overwhelmingly approved a state constitutional amendment that will require state and local law enforcement officers to get a warrant before searching through suspects’ electronic data, including phones (article available here).
The vote will make Michigan the 13th state to include privacy protections in its constitution, and the third state to do so via ballot measure following Missouri in 2014 and New Hampshire in 2018, according to a National Conference of State Legislatures analysis.
The amendment prohibits the unreasonable search and seizure of “electronic data, and electronic communications,” clearing up some potential gray areas for law enforcement officers who previously could have been tempted to search a criminal suspect’s text messages, online chatroom participation or internet search history without first getting approval from a judge, Eric Lupher, president of the nonpartisan Citizens Research Council of Michigan, said at an October news conference on the measure.