Voting system changes search for problems

We normally reserve our editorial position on ballot issues until just prior to an election but are weighing in now on a November ballot question that may likely be facing the Michigan electorate this year – the Americans for Citizen Voting amendment to the state Constitution.

To get this amendment on the ballot, backers of this proposal had to collect 446,198 signatures on petitions, which is 10 percent of the votes cast in the last election for governor. The petition drive netted some 750,000 signatures and the issue will now go before the Michigan Bureau of Election to verify signatures. If the petition signatures pass state review, this will become Proposal 2 on the November ballot.

Our opposition to this proposal is based on our concerns that this effort is akin to the effort in the U.S. House and Senate to pass legislation under cover of “cleaning up” alleged election problems but is really an effort to suppress voters here and across the nation.

Michigan voters have been very supportive of efforts to make ballot access easier for the electorate which is just the opposite of what would happen should this amendment pass in November. There have been very few instances where

non-citizens have voted in this state and across the nation. But the issue and similar attempts have become a central election plank for Republicans who still maintain – falsely, we might add – that the 2020 election and those that have followed have been rigged or error-ridden.

The proposed amendment to the Michigan Constitution would require a statewide citizenship verification program, and would require specific documentation for those hoping to vote. Opponents of this effort say that photo identification would be required for absentee voting and the stringent timeline to remove voters from the rolls would disenfranchise thousands of voters. Critics also maintain that eight million voters in the state will now have to register again.

Frankly, no one is arguing against allowing voting by only citizens when it comes to elections. But such a requirement is already required in Michigan. As to the voter ID requirement, we already have to show identification to vote in person in this state.

This effort in Michigan mirrors in many respects the SAVE America Act that has been approved in the U.S. House and is now nearing debate in the U.S. Senate. The effort in Congress is being pushed by President Trump who has said he wants to eliminate voting by mail and, believe it or not, end the use of voting machines. The SAVE America Act would apply to federal elections.

What’s moving through Congress would require that birth certificates or passports be used as verification of citizenship. The respected Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU Law School estimates that 21 million Americans lack ready access to these requires documents. Half of Americans, the center says, lack a passport and millions lack access to a paper copy of their birth certificates. Even if available, the center and other critics say women will face an added hurdle because their married names do not appear on a birth certificate.

Republicans in the U.S. House are now trying to introduce two added bills that will make voting even more difficult. And Trump is pushing for act amendments addressing transgender athletes and children.

We view both the Michigan and the federal efforts as solutions in search of a problem. Studies and audits of past elections simply show no major and only minuscule problems that would have changed the final outcome of any vote total. So we are inclined to believe that the true motivation on this efforts is to suppress the vote, no matter how the issues get dressed up by supporters.