A effort is underway to circumvent the will of the people!

In 2018, Proposal 3 expanded voter access by creating no reason absentee voting, expanding hours of access to local clerks prior to the election, and allowing same-day registration.This proposal passed with 66.91% of the vote. That was 2,777,998 yes votes; yes, almost 2 million, 800 THOUSAND yes votes.

A group called “Secure MI Vote” (August 30, 2021 Bridge Magazine) announced that it will be circulating a petition, that only needs 340,047 signatures; yes, only 340 THOUSAND signatures, to give the Legislature the ability to pass their election reform agenda into law. This will severely impact the ability of many groups of people to access the polls, despite the votes in 2018 that overwhelmingly demonstrated that Michigan voters want more access, not less, and despite the fact that many audits (link to audit results), court cases, and an investigation by the Michigan Senate Oversight Committee proved we had the cleanest and best run election, in November 2020, that the state has ever had. Social Security information will be required for voter registration and will be accessible to election officials with no provision in the proposed legislation to protect the voter’s privacy. No donations will be allowed to facilitate elections. This can mean no use of schools and churches as polling places without fair-market rental fees. This can create problems in running enough voting locations. Even snacks given by a civic-minded group to poll workers would be illegal. Groups potentially affected by this petition include the elderly, the disabled, the poor, college students, active military, domestic violence victims, and those who appreciated the access we had in 2020.

In November, 2020, I voted absentee by putting my ballot in the secure drop box in Chelsea. Did anyone else notice that it was bolted to the cement and had a security camera aimed at it? I like to vote absentee. It lets me take the time to be thoughtful as I do the actual voting. I do not want to mail in an absentee application that has my driver’s license number and last 4 digits of my social security number on it!

I believe in free and fair elections and in government that reflects the will of the people, all of the people.

Clearly, this effort is one to circumvent the will of the people. DO NOT SIGN this petition!