state canvassers

David Bullock addresses the Board of State Canvassers regarding his petitions to recall Gov. Rick Snyder on Feb. 8, 2016. A petition of his was approved on Feb. 22, 2016.

LANSING, MI -- The Board of State Canvassers on Monday unanimously approved a petition to recall Gov. Rick Snyder over the Flint water crisis, rejecting five other attempts to recall him and one to recall Lt. Gov. Brian Calley.

The approved language would ask voters to recall Snyder based on the fact that "Governor Richard D. Snyder declared a state of emergency in the County of Genesee and the City of Flint pursuant to the constitution of the state of Michigan and provisions of Act No. 390 of the Public Acts of 1976, filed with the Secretary of State on January 5, 2016, and ending on February 1, 2016, unless extended as provided by Act No. 390."

The language was submitted by David Bullock, who said he's working with Quincy Murphy and Benjamin Lazarus, who had a petition to recall the governor over an education issue approved earlier this month.

But the petition they circulate will be the one approved Monday, because it's directly related to Flint water.

"Residents have had to pay for bad water for over two years," Murphy said.

He said people in other cities are also affected, because fixing the mistakes and Flint has cost all Michiganders.

Now that the petition language is approved organizers have 180 days to use it. But they have to collect 789,133 valid signatures in a 60-day period within that 180 day window. They will be the first in the state to attempt that after lawmakers changed it from a 90-day to a 60-day window in 2012 legislation.

Murphy said the campaign would look to collect $2 million. They're working on a website, and plan to start collecting signatures when the weather is warmer and more Michiganders are outdoors. He doesn't yet know if they will pay people to circulate petitions.

Bullock said the petition would allow voters to express themselves over the Flint water crisis and other instances of overreach by the Gov. Rick Snyder administration.

"The people need the opportunity to express their democratic right as well as their political will," Bullock said.

The petitions rejected by the board today would have recalled Snyder for:

"Failure to adequately fund replacement of lead service lines which has resulted into high levels of lead in the city of Flint drinking water for Residential, Commercial and Infrastructure in a timely manner."

"Because Governor Richard D. Snyder admitted in parts of the Michigan State of the State transcript on January 19, 2016 'Government failed you: federal, state and local leaders by breaking the trust you placed in us. I am sorry most of all that I let you down. You deserve better. You deserve accountability; you deserve to know the buck stops here with me'."

"For signing a 'Proclamation Declaration of Emergency' for the 'area affected includes parts of the City of Flint, within the County of GEnesee but in no case longer than February 1, 2016, unless extended as provided by Act. No. 390.'"

"Governor Rick Snyder declined an invitation for him to appear and testify in Washington D.C. at the February 10, 2016 Congressional Committee hearing before the U.S. House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, where he would have been given the opportunity to answer questions regarding the City of Flint's water crisis."

"Governor Rick Snyder did not declare a State of Emergency in Genesee County until January 5, 2016, which was over one year after state officials within Michigan's Department of Environmental Quality were aware that test results showed lead levels in the City of Flint's drinking water were above the legal levels."

In addition, the board rejected a petition to recall Calley for his role in changing election rules after it appeared that embattled Flint City Councilman Eric Mays would be the only one on the ballot for the Mayoral election due to a local clerk's date mix-up.

Emily Lawler is a Capitol reporter on MLive's statewide Impact Team. You can reach her at elawler@mlive.com, subscribe to her on Facebook or follow her on Twitter: @emilyjanelawler.