Why Michigan Republicans' attack on voting rights is 'particularly anti-democratic'

[Nevilledog]

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Barry Burden
@bcburden
Senate Bill 310 in Michigan would not even allow the Secretary of State to provide a link to the absentee ballot application on her website. OK then.

Why Michigan Republicans’ attack on voting rights is ‘particularly anti-democratic’
The Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, is likely to veto bills to curb voter access, but Republicans are hinting they will use a loophole to implement the measures
theguardian.com
9:39 AM · Apr 26, 2021

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/26/why-michigan-republicans-anti-voting-rights-effort


On the surface, the Republican effort to roll back voting rights in Michigan looks similar to what’s happening in states around the country: after Donald Trump narrowly lost a key battleground state where there was record turnout, Republicans are moving swiftly to implement sweeping restrictions to curtail access to the ballot box.

But the effort is raising unique concerns. Even though the Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, is likely to veto a package of dozens of pending bills to curb voter access, Republicans are already hinting they will use a loophole to implement the measures anyway. They can take advantage of a quirk in Michigan’s law allowing voters to send a bill to the legislature if just over 340,000 voters sign a petition asking them to take it up. These kinds of bills cannot be vetoed by the governor.

“This effort is particularly anti-democratic, not just in substance, but in procedure,” said the Michigan secretary of state, Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat who serves as the state’s top election official.

The proposals include measures that are breathtakingly restrictive, even when held up in comparison to other measures states are considering. One bill bans Michigan’s secretary of state not only from mailing out absentee ballot applications to all voters, but also blocks her from even providing a link on a state website to a mail-in ballot application. Another proposal does not allow voters to use absentee ballot drop boxes after 5pm the day before election day. A different measure would require voters to make a photocopy of their ID and mail it in to vote by mail.

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[Hugh_Lebowski]

1. I really hate these fascists (nt)