Michigan SOS Benson condemns GOP voting package as “un-American”
(The Center Square) – Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson on Thursday denounced a 39-bill GOP voting package as “un-American,” while the GOP claim the bills would “restore trust” in elections.
“Michigan’s GOP legislators have joined a national, coordinated, partisan effort based on false information about the 2020 election to attack all citizens’ freedom to vote,” Benson said. “The truth is that the 2020 election was secure, fair, and an accurate reflection of the will of the people, and legislation that seeks to undo the policies that brought about its record-setting turnout and success is anti-American and does harm to every Michigander.”
Benson was joined by Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey.
“These bills are an attack on election administrators and our collective democracy,” Winfrey said. “They include countless ill-informed and nefarious measures that will negatively impact our elections and voters. For example, by banning prepaid return postage on absentee ballot envelopes, the legislation discriminates against low-income citizens and prohibits a practice that I instituted 15 years ago, which has continued without issue ever since.”
Benson criticized SB 285 that seeks to require voters to show ID when voting in person and when requesting an absentee ballot. Benson contended that it’s easier to forge a fake ID than to forge a signature, claimed the provision would lead to a higher number of identity thefts, describing the package as “only making it harder” for people to vote.
Benson failed to mention her lax signature-matching directive was struck down post-election by a Michigan judge as “invalid” since it skipped the proper rulemaking process.
Other bills in the GOP package aim to authorize video recording of election audit proceedings, regulate absent voter drop boxes, bar prepaid postage for absentee ballot return envelopes, and limit access to the qualified voter file.
In a Wednesday virtual NFIB Small Business Day Microsoft teams meeting, Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, said he was “very proud” of the voting package, of which he’s “not backing off one ounce with regards to photo IDs required to vote, even though there are a bunch of CEOs who’ve decided to jump into politics and push back on it,” Shirkey said.
When asked about SB 284 that aims to end private funding of public elections, Benson said private funding was “critical” to the 2020 election when state and federal lawmakers “failed to step up to the plate.” If lawmakers don’t like private funding, Benson said they should fully fund elections.
The bill is likely a response to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg spending $400 million nationwide into the 2020 election through a Chicago-based nonprofit, the Center for Technology and Civic Life (CTCL).
Roughly $8 million funded Michigan’s elections. CTCL said the funds supported local elections, including poll worker recruitment, hazard pay, poll rentals, and nonpartisan voter education to award over 2,500 grants to city and county elections offices nationwide.
The most grants, 474, were awarded to Michigan. Documents obtained by The Center Square through public records requests and sources show Detroit received $3.5 million; Wayne County: $432,620; Pontiac: $405,000; Flint: $475,625; Lansing: $488,000; Ann Arbor: $417,000; and Grand Rapids: $280,000.
Pontiac Interim City Clerk Garland Doyle told The Center Square the grant more than doubled its election budget, and they got a spending deadline extension. Without the money, they would have had “a huge budget deficit,” Doyle said in a phone interview.
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