My Take: Vote ‘yes’ on Proposal 2 to protect voting rights in Michigan’s Constitution
Voting is critical to the integrity of our democracy, which is why our fundamental voting rights should be respected and protected in Michigan’s Constitution.
There are currently politicians in Lansing who are actively working to make it more difficult for Michigan citizens to vote and are justifying these actions by using scare tactics about election security, despite the fact that there is no evidence that our current voting provisions have resulted in election fraud.
These Republican-led efforts to make it more difficult to vote under the guise of ‘election security’ are a solution in search of a problem. In 2021, the Republican-led Michigan Senate Oversight Committee “found no evidence of widespread or systematic fraud in Michigan’s prosecution of the 2020 election.” Every Republican on the committee supported this conclusion.
The legislation passed by Republicans last year to make absentee and in-person voting more difficult was vetoed by Gov. Whitmer, so their next tactic is to use the Michigan citizens’ proposal process to circumvent the governor’s veto. Michigan Republican Party Chair Ron Weiser told the North Oakland Republican Club last year that Republicans planned to put together various parts of their voting bills into a petition initiative that the Legislature could enact into law without Whitmer’s signature if it gets the required 340,000 signatures to get on the ballot.
And this is exactly what Republican lawmakers in Lansing are pursuing. The petition signature effort around the "Secure Mi Vote" proposal is not meant to put these voter suppression provisions before the voters and subject these ideas to a vote of the people as petition circulators would have had you believe. Instead, it is to allow the legislature to pass this language in a veto-proof manner according to arcane language in our constitution that allows for this process. I cannot think of anything more un-democratic than circumventing the accepted legislative process in this way and subverting the will of the people to vote on the proposed language per the petition. This type of "end-run" on the legislative process is the very reason why fundamental voting rights need to be protected in Michigan’s constitution so that politicians of any political party cannot interfere with or curtail these rights now or in the future.
Proposal 2 is on the ballot due to the efforts of a coalition of more than 30 organizations across Michigan called Promote the Vote 2022. Promote the Vote 2022 gathered 669,972 signatures to get this constitutional amendment on the ballot — far more than the 425,000 required.
Proposal 2 will make Michigan elections more modern, accessible and secure and protect voting rights in the state constitution. Do you like to vote via absentee ballot? Proposal 2 will ensure you can keep voting absentee, provide for an adequate number of secure drop boxes based on the number of voters in each municipality, provide for postage to mail in your ballot if you cannot access a drop box, and provide online absentee ballot tracking so voters can be confident that their votes are received and counted.
Do you prefer to vote in person, but work or family responsibilities make it difficult to get to the polls on election day? Proposal 2 will provide for nine days of early in-person voting to provide additional options for those who want to feed their ballot into vote tabulators. These provisions will make voting more convenient for everyone, including those who vote on election day, as lines will be shorter and people will need less time away from work and family to cast their vote. Are you active military, or have loved ones overseas? Proposal 2 will ensure military and overseas votes are counted if postmarked by election day.
Is an audit required for an election due to questions about integrity? Proposal 2 requires that audits must be done in a transparent manner by election officials and not by political operatives. Are you concerned about donations made to support elections, including the donation of a polling place? Proposal 2 will require transparency of donations. Proposal 2 will ensure that election results are certified by canvass boards based only on the votes of Michigan citizens whose identity is verified prior to counting their vote, whether they are voting in person or by mail.
For more information, including more detail about the provisions of Proposal 2 and a list of supporting organizations visit promotethevote2022.com. I strongly encourage a "yes" vote on Proposal 2.
— Marsha Manning is a resident of West Olive.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: My Take: Vote ‘yes’ on Proposal 2 to protect voting rights in Michigan’s Constitution
