The package – similar to the measures Whitmer vetoed last year – will almost certainly fail.
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“Michigan has strong protection for the election, including strong, effective laws on the credentials of working voters, as evidenced by the fact that we had the safest, most affordable, high-turnout election in our state’s history,” he said. Whitmer Bobby Lady in her speech. a statement to Bridge Michigan on Thursday.
The introduction of such measures is part of a broader campaign to restructure the electoral administration that Republican lawmakers in legislators across the country are a wave of efforts amplified by unsubstantiated claims that massive voter fraud has undermined the 2020 election. In Michigan, more than 250 post-election audits conducted by local officials found no evidence of widespread voter fraud, and a recent audit by the State Audit Office found that more than 99.9 percent of all ballots in the 2020 election were properly submitted and counted.
However, efforts to find tighter election rules continue to gain momentum. A couple of Republicans won the primaries after repeating false statements about widespread voter fraud. Conservative Group of Petitions, Safe voting MIhopes to collect enough signatures to pass legislation to tighten voting rules without the governor’s approval.
Liberal groups, on the other hand, attacked these efforts as repressing voters. A coalition of groups was formed Advertise voting 2022 – an election commission seeking amendments to the Constitution to increase voter access and ease restrictions on voting.
Republican lawmakers on Thursday touted the bill as a way to boost public confidence in the state’s election administration process.
“Free, fair and secure elections are the foundation of our democratic republic,” said MP Julie Alexander, sponsor of the bill, which requires pollsters to confirm their affiliation with political parties. “My (bill) will further increase voter confidence by improving transparency with regard to electoral workers.”
But several Democrats argued that the measures would deprive colored voters of their voting rights and make it harder to vote for senior citizens and people with disabilities.
“These bills are simply a modern suppression of voters and interfere with one of the most fundamental rights of our democracy – their right to vote,” said Brenda Carter, a spokeswoman for D-Pontiac, in the House of Representatives on Thursday.
The bills also sparked opposition from the office of Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. Opponents of these measures argue that the bills could mean greater burden on local employeesaccording to the fiscal analysis of the House of Representatives on one measure.
Benson’s spokeswoman Tracy Wimmer told Bridge Michigan that the bills were “rooted in misinformation” and demonstrated “how completely unrelated many members of the House of Representatives are to the real needs of those who run our elections on the ground.”
“It’s time for Michigan lawmakers to stop using their bills as tools for further conspiracy theories and instead listen to experts on how to truly strengthen and increase the accessibility of our election,” Wimmer said Thursday.
What will each bill do?
House project 5288, authored by Andrew Biller’s representative, R-Fort Gratiot, will require those wishing to vote in absentia to physically sign their applications instead of offering an electronic signature. It will also allow voters to apply to receive ballots in person, by mail, email or fax. According to the bill, the application for absentee voting will not be available more than 75 days before the election. According to the current legislation, there are no restrictions on when you can send ballots.
The proposal is repeated Republican opposition to Benson’s office rule that allows voters to apply for starting ballots online. MP Steve Carr, vice chairman of the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, Republican of the Three Rivers and vice chairman of the House of Representatives majority in the House of Representatives, the statement said last week’s practice “undermines the integrity (s) of the election by manipulating our strict signature-matching laws.”
Benson’s office rejected numerous changes to the rules recommended by the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules, saying Republican-backed proposals would be “Restrict the right to vote.”
“I will not allow a small group of party lawmakers to restrict these rights to spread and codify long-debunked conspiracy theories and lies,” Benson said in a statement last week. “The rules we have submitted are based on facts, data and long-standing non-partisan standard election administration practices that support Michigan voters.”
House project 4876, sponsored by Alexander, will require questionnaires to disclose to the public their affiliation with political parties, which they are currently disclosing in their job applications submitted to local officials. The bill requires applicants to confirm their party affiliation and make this information available to chairmen of local political parties and the public.
Opponents argue that the bill could make it harder for local clergy, who would have to analyze attestations, disseminate information about candidates among local party chairmen and respond to relevant inquiries, according to the bill’s fiscal analysis. But proponents of the move argue that it is important to have interview staff on both sides, and the work can be “easily incorporated into work already done by clerks.”