Michigan State trustees delay vendor voting rights resolution

EAST LANSING — The Michigan State University Board of Trustees Friday chose not to consider a resolution that would have asked university-affiliated vendors to cease financial contributions to Republican politicians who support measures restricting voting access in Michigan.

The resolution, which was pulled ahead of Friday's meeting, would have called on corporations, including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Delta Dental of Michigan, to “take concrete steps to defeat the efforts to undermine our democracy,” such as pressing lawmakers to vote down legislation aimed to tighten voting laws and to “align their political support (including financial contributions) of candidates and office holders with their professed values, providing that those values support free and fair access to the democratic process.”

The resolution refers by name to the Secure MI Vote initiative, which would tighten Michigan voting and election laws by toughening in-person voter ID, requiring applications for absentee ballots, prohibiting private funding to help clerks conduct elections, and more. It's one of many restrictive voting laws advanced by Republican state lawmakers across the country in the aftermath of former President Donald Trump's disproven claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election.

"It became very clear that this was a political resolution, even though I don’t believe that voting and access to voting should be a political issue," said Dianne Byrum, chairperson of the MSU Board of Trustees. "We pulled it because we didn’t want it to become just a partisan issue. This is something that the board feels very passionate about.

"By removing the resolution today, (it) does not take away for a millisecond the passion and the support for equal access to the ballot by all citizens, particularly our students … but also Black and brown, and working-class individuals and families."

In response to the proposed resolution, state Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, a Republican, threatened to pull MSU's funding. He made the threat in a column by Detroit News columnist Nolan Finley that was published Thursday.

Byrum, a Democrat, said the decision to pull the resolution had nothing to do with Shirkey's statement.

"The decision to pull the resolution is that it was going to become … the focus of the resolution was the partisan politics and the divisiveness of it and that takes away from the message we were trying to convey," she said.

The state's 2022-23 fiscal year budget includes $303.7 million in base funding for university operations at MSU.

"We stand by our commitment, that all eligible citizens should have free and equal access to the ballot box and intimidation and barrier to access weakens our democracy, it does not strengthen it," Byrum said. "When people lose fundamental hope that they can participate, have their voices heard, that weakens our democracy."

At a press conference conducted by the Michigan-based Defend Black Voters Coalition after the board meeting, MSU trustee Rema Vassar said the proposal was pulled to avoid drawing public attention from the Promote The Vote petition. The Michigan Supreme Court Thursday ordered the state’s elections panel to certify the voting rights proposal and place it on the November ballot.

More:Michigan Supreme Court orders certification of Promote the Vote proposal

The wide-ranging proposal would establish at least nine days of early voting; require state funding for absentee ballot postage and drop boxes, and codify existing voter ID rules, among other changes.

“We don’t want to get in the way. We want to make sure that we’re in full support of all positive efforts to make sure that people get the opportunity to vote, particularly MSU students. Our timing will flex for other folks who are doing this good work as well,” said Vassar, who is a Democrat.

Wayne County Commissioner Jonathan Kinloch called upon trustees to promptly adopt the resolution.

"We're living in extraordinary times and MSU trustees still have the opportunity to stand on the right side of history," he said. "We want MSU trustees to be remembered for their integrity, upholding the university's core values, and not as the last speed bump on the road back to Jim Crow."

The eight-member board is made up of five Democrats and three Republicans.

Vice Chairperson Dan Kelly, a Republican, said Republican members did not move to block the resolution, but he expressed his opposition.

Kelly took issue with proposal's calls for vendors to pull financial contributions from politicians who want to restrict voting access, which he described as "inappropriate."

"You should keep your business separate from your politics, quite frankly. And we were directly threatening, in my mind, to be on one side or the other of what is a controversial issue, and that's not right," he said.

Kelly also said he disapproved of how the resolution "personally (attacks)" state representatives based on their support for the proposal.

"That's not our job as the MSU Board of Trustees to input," he said.

Petitioners turned in signatures for the Secure MI Vote after the state's deadline for ballot questions, and are now pressing for the proposal to be presented before the state legislature this fall, according to Bridge Michigan.

Vassar called Shirkey's comments abhorrent, and told the university community they can confide in the Board of Trustees to "do the right thing."

"It's not a bargaining chip," Vassar said of public education funding. "I believe so deeply in education and its power to change people's lives — but also to shape our world — that for folks to threaten the vitality of the work here with these thoughts of defunding us, to me, is the worst kind of threat."

Contact reporter Jared Weber at 517-582-3937 or jtweber@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter at @jared_webby.

Contact Mark Johnson at 517-377-1026 or majohnson2@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ByMarkJohnson.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: MSU Trustees delay vote on vendors political contribution resolution