(Source: MIRS.news, Published 07/11/2022) Promote The Vote 2022 turned in voter signatures to the Michigan Bureau of Elections office Monday to get the constitutional ballot initiative in front of voters on Nov. 8, even while Secure MI Vote is still collecting signatures.
Promote The Vote Executive Director Michael Davis said the organization turned in 669,972 voter signatures that were collected with the help of 27 organizations. The threshold for signatures is 425,059.
“Michiganders demand and deserve to know they can vote safely, securely and conveniently, and we are already building momentum for the months leading up to the November general election,” Davis said.
Secure MI Vote spokesperson Jamie Roe said the proposal presented is not honest in its intent and needs to be defeated. He said it is just a way for people to vote without identification.
“That is going to have to be explained to Michigan voters who overwhelmingly support having to show a government issued photo ID before you cast a vote. It is just a common-sense proposal,” Roe said.
Davis said the Promote the Vote 2022 ballot was “common sense” and something supported by enough voters to pass.
Michigan Farmers Union President Bob Thompson said the proposal would help rural communities and called the proposal “common-sense solutions.”
Promote the Vote would also allow members of the military to have a vote counted as long as it is postmarked by Election Day, would open early in-person voting up for nine days, require the state to provide secure ballot drop boxes and a tracking system for those ballots, and require the state to pay for postage for absentee applications and absentee ballots.
“The cost of a stamp is pretty minimal when you think about all the other things the government pays for,” Promote the Vote President Khalilah Spencer said.
However, Fred Wszolek reflected Roe said the whole proposal is about making sure people don’t have to show ID when voting.
“All this other stuff is just eyewash,” Wszolek said.
Spencer countered the initiative doesn’t open everything up, as described by Wszolek or Roe, but that the ballot initiative just enshrines current law in the constitution.
“There are some folks who have a limited ability to get ID and so they should be able to sign and attest to their identity, under penalty of perjury,” Spencer said.
All sides are pushing secure elections, though how they go about that is up to interpretation. Both sides said it would be a matter of educating voters about the ballot issue.
Roe said Secure MI Vote, which would require voter ID to vote, is planning on turning in the signatures collected for the ballot initiative to appear on the Nov. 5, 2024 ballot. However, he doesn’t expect it to go to the ballot, because it is something that has been taken up by the Legislature in the past but vetoed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
He said he is confident that the Legislature would take up the proposal and pass it, giving them a veto-proof way to create a voter ID law in the state.
“That’s not a loophole, that’s the process as set forth in the Constitution,” Roe said.
However, if Promote the Vote 2022 were to make it on the ballot as a Constitutional ballot measure, if it were passed, it would override the Secure MI Vote law.
“They’re diametrically opposed,” Roe said.
Spencer said they are not expecting any credible challenges to the signatures and had counted signatures through the night to get everything in order.
“We did have a very careful procedure with our signature gathering and we made sure that we went through each signature. Those that were problematic we have struck,” she said.
She also said they didn’t have any of the suspected forgers working for the campaign.
Roe and Wszolek said there would be challenges made to the petition.
“This must be defeated,” Roe said.
Davis said the promotion of Promote the Vote 2022 would look a lot like the signature collection portion.
“670,000 signatures is indicative that there is wide range of support across the state and we hope to mobilize it,” Spencer said. “We’re going to use all modes of communication to make sure voters are aware of this ballot initiative and that they vote yes on it,” Spencer said.
