There are at least three things happening at once that may impact the future of voting for all Michigan citizens. The League of Women Voters of Michigan is working to monitor what is happening, educate our members and the public, and advocate on your behalf. On March 24, the Senate Republicans introduced a package of 39 bills and assigned them to the Senate Elections Committee, and Senator Johnson added a new bill, SB 334. The bills are SB 273 through SB 311, and SB 334, and they are available at www.legislature.mi.gov. The League has positions on all of the bills and detailed information is available on our website, www.lwvmi.org. On March 26, the Michigan Republican Party announced there will be a citizens’ initiative petition weaving together the Senate Republican bills if the Governor vetoes the Senate Republican proposed bills. This would allow the legislature to adopt the initiative as a new law and avoid a veto by Governor Whitmer. To understand that process, please read Laws governing the initiative process in Michigan – Ballotpedia. At the same time, the House and Senate are going through the appropriations process for the Department of the Secretary of State. During the process, the Michigan House of Representatives and the Michigan Senate are adding amendments and appropriating money to the budget bills (HB 4398, SB 82) that adversely impact our election system. Why is this happening? According to Senator Ruth Johnson, “The majority of the people in this state don’t believe we have integrity in our elections.” Senator Johnson is Chair of the Senate Elections Committee, sponsor of numerous bills in the Senate Republican package, former Secretary of State and former Oakland County clerk. This is in spite of Secretary of State Benson’s announcement on March 2 that all of the state’s more than 250 election audits were complete and confirmed the integrity and accuracy of the 2020 general election. The Senate Elections Committee has held three hearings on 15 of the 39-bill package. The only vote taken by the committee was to adopt a substitute for SB 286 to change the time for closing drop boxes from 5 p.m. on the day before the election to 5 p.m. on election day. Essentially, the bills are in the same place as when they were introduced at the end of March. The League has provided testimony against the bills available on the LWVMI website. Judy Karandjeff attended the April 28 hearing in person and turned in testimony. President Christina Schlitt testified on zoom on May 5. We are monitoring everything that is happening, providing testimony, and working with coalition partners to assure these proposals are defeated. At this point, it is important for you to continue to contact your Senators to let them know you oppose the Senate Republican Voter Suppression bills. Click here to find your MI senator by address or zip code. We will send action alerts as the bills move to votes in the Senate. |