Common Cause, a nonpartisan organization focused on creating an open and accountable government, has released a list of next steps it says would help make Michigan’s elections “safe, secure and equal for all voters.”
Voting rights
Michigan has made strong progress in protecting voters’ rights and access to the ballot box in recent years, especially compared to other states, advocates say. However, state lawmakers and national voting rights advocates aren’t becoming complacent, as they’re continuing to push for solutions to fill gaps in voter protections.
While voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment expanding voting rights in November, the work to put Proposal 2 in place is only just getting started.
It’s not certain whether the Reproductive Freedom for All proposal will get in front of voters in November after the Board of State Canvassers deadlocked on party lines Wednesday. The board also deadlocked Wednesday on whether an initiative to expand voting rights will end up on the Nov. 8 general election ballot. Both matters are now expected to be resolved in the Michigan Supreme Court.
Activists, educators and nonprofit organizers on Wednesday discussed efforts to undermine the results of the 2020 elections, restrictions on voting rights and methods for promoting civic engagement.
WSV’s Madison “Mocha” Hunter shares a powerful piece she penned titled “Fannie Lou Hamer: Appropriating Nikki Giovanni’s Rosa Parks.”
A bipartisan group of senators is exploring legislation to overhaul how Congress counts Electoral College votes, but backers of stalled voting rights legislation are lukewarm on the effort as a substitute.
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats on Tuesday unveiled a revamped voting rights bill that would expand voter registration as well as create nonpartisan redistricting committees, but the measure is still likely to face an uphill battle in an evenly divided Senate.
After months of hearings on legislation restricting voting rights, Michigan Republicans, as expected, unveiled on Monday a citizen-led ballot measure. The advantage of going this route is that the GOP-controlled Legislature has the power to approve it, thus going around Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who has vowed to veto bills that hit her desk.
If passed, the John Lewis Voting Rights and Advancement Act would establish a preclearance formula that would require some states that want to make changes to their voting laws to receive permission from the Justice Department first.
A House panel released a new report on Friday that will help lawmakers craft legislation named after the late Georgia civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis that aims to protect voting rights across the United States.
The Poor People’s Campaign announced on Monday the beginning of a weeks-long push calling on Congress to end the Senate filibuster and pass voting rights legislation.
Republicans during a U.S. House Judiciary panel hearing on Tuesday argued that a bill that would reinstate a preclearance section of the 1965 Voting Rights Act is unnecessary because there is no discrimination in voting.
U.S. Senate Republicans shut down efforts to open debate on a sweeping elections reform and voting rights bill brought to the Senate floor by Democrats Tuesday night. In a party-line 50-50 vote, the Democratic measure, S.1, titled the For the People Act, did not reach the 60-vote threshold required to end a filibuster and advance. Democrats did pick up the last-minute support of a wavering member, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin III, and presented a united front, but still fell short without any GOP support.
Michigan Advance’s Jarvis DeBerry writes, “(Republican lawmakers) don’t think officially recognizing June 19, 1865, the day Black people in Texas learned of their freedom, costs them anything or that it benefits Black people enough for them to get worked up about. Acknowledging Juneteenth definitely doesn’t mean as much as police reform, voting rights, a higher minimum wage, Medicaid expansion or other policies that Black people have been demanding.”
The Senate passed three bills Wednesday that would make it more difficult for voters to vote absentee and at the ballot box if they aren’t able to present a state-issued photo ID, despite fierce objections from Democrats that the new rules would be especially harmful to vulnerable voters and communities of color.
The Michigan Senate Elections Committee voted on three bills Wednesday that could reform voting procedures to mandate photo identification being presented when applying for an absentee ballot or casting a ballot.
A Senate committee on Wednesday continued discussions on bills in a sweeping GOP voting restriction package that’s been widely criticized by voting rights activists and Democratic officials.