PROPOSAL 3

Gretchen Whitmer has made it clear: voting bills introduced in the Michigan Senate aren’t getting past her desk. Republicans pitched the package with the slogan “easier to vote, harder to cheat,” which Whitmer and liberal activists aren’t buying. Read more: Michigan Senate GOP debuts election reforms critical of Secretary of State’s handling of November election“It is unacceptable,” Whitmer said Wednesday morning on CNN. Liberal activists are focusing their criticism on the bills that control absentee ballot applications, mailing and submission. Gilchrist pointed to bills requiring more documentation to be submitted with absentee ballot applications and restrictions on ballot drop boxes.

Read more: GOP-led committees in Michigan authorize subpoena for election informationWhat does election reform from Michigan Republicans look like? Hall told MLive his COVID-19 Oversight committee’s subpoena is not a challenge of election results, but a chance to review recent Michigan election changes such as Proposal 3. While previously supportive of no-reason absentee ballots, Johnson has been one of the biggest opponents to Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s absentee ballot program. The Michigan Court of Claims ruled in a separate case that absentee ballots received after Election Day would not count. “Not only was she trying to make it easier for absentee voting, but she was also championing some campaign finance reform, too,” Greig said.

Elections officials’ predictions that there would be a big bump in absentee voting numbers as a result of the law ultimately came to pass. “I don’t believe there will be much of a drop-off in absentee voting participation,” she said. “Because there is no barrier to voting absentee, people employed it, people utilized it and now they’re familiar with it,” he said. But there were concerns about how the absentee voting process was handled at the state level during the election cycle as well. Read more on MLive:MichMash: How absentee ballots made all the difference in the 2020 electionSee 2020 election turnout by Michigan county compared to 2016There are lots of conspiracy theories about Michigan election fraud.

DETROIT As the state works to get every registered voter an absentee ballot application, concerns and claims have been swirling around the conversation of vote-by-mail. There's no evidence that voter fraud happens in incidents of allowing citizens to vote by mail, which they have a right to do in the state of Michigan, Sec. In states like CO, WA, OR and Utah which have moved to almost entirely vote by mail, absentee fraud has been extremely rare. In Michigan, there have only been 5 convictions for absentee ballot fraud since 2007, according to the Conservative leaning Heritage Foundation. An increase in absentee votes will drastically alter how ballots are normally counted, likely taking more time and manpower.

LANSING, Mich. The League of Women Voters (LMV) of Michigan filed a lawsuit against the Michigan Secretary of State on May 22 regarding absentee voting rights ahead of upcoming elections. Proposal 3, also known as the Voting Policies in State Constitution Initiative, was approved in 2018 and added no-excuse absentee voting to the Michigan Constitution. While its clear that absentee voting is a priority for Michigans Secretary of State, the LMV claims that Michigan voters are still facing unconstitutional barriers to absentee voting that need to be addressed ahead of the upcoming elections. Michigans LMV is also requesting that the state pays for postage for absentee voters and process ballot applications within a 24-hour time slot. Benson is actually sending absentee ballot applications to registered Michigan voters who can choose if theyd like to vote by mail in August and November.