Michigan election reform — Secure MI Vote
ALPENA, Mich. – One organization says they’re trying to make sure voting is fair and balanced in the state.
Secure Michigan Vote says they’re gathering petition signatures to help prevent discrepancies in the election process.
Here’s more on that — and why some groups say efforts to reform Michigan’s voting laws are questionable.
Secure Michigan Vote — a registered ballot question committee, will file language with the Michigan Bureau of Elections.
“There’s need for reform to restore public confidence in the results of the elections after the results were questioned in both 2016 and 2020,” said Secure MI Vote Spokesperson Jamie Roe.
It’s an effort to make it easier to vote and harder to cheat in Michigan elections.
The organization announced the launch of their petition drive, to enact strict voter ID requirements, bar the secretary of state and clerks from providing unsolicited absentee ballot applications.
The group said identification is the key to the solution.
“One thing is voter ID, and having to show picture ID when you go to vote, right now the law does require you to show your picture ID when you go vote and when you don’t have it you have to sign an affidavit, so you sign it, say you are and that ballot is counted,” said Roe.
But here’s where Roe said the problem lies.
“The problem with that is under current law, that goes right into the ballot box, and there’s no way to retrieve it — even if we find out you weren’t eligible to vote,” said Roe.
Other groups say voting reform is not all that it seems.
“If you remember in 2018, we all voted for provisions that created more access to the ballot to for voters here in Michigan and they want to overturn that and take us backwards using 340,000 signatures,” said Michigan democratic party chairman Lavora Barnes. “Their goal here is to make sure they make it harder for people to vote because they discovered that when you make it easy for people to vote, it doesn’t make elections less secure, it just means that more people vote.”
Next, Secure MI Vote will need to collect the 340,000 signatures in order to move forward with the Michigan Legislature.
Michigan Republicans introduced a 39–bill package of election reforms into the legislature this year. The House passed three of the bills on August 17.
