By Kim Murphy-Kovalick | October 5, 2021
The GOP-supported “Secure MI Vote” group received form and summary approval from the Board of State Canvassers on September 27, an administrative step that clears the way for them to collect signatures on the petition. Their circulators are expected to be in the field with petitions at any moment. If successful, they will roll back voting rights for all Michiganders. VNP volunteers have been fighting this anti-voter effort since March, when the Michigan GOP introduced bills in the state Senate but admitted their real plan was to exploit the initiative process to pass their voter suppression measures. In the coming months, VNP will be spreading the word around the state to make sure voters know that this is an anti-voter petition, founded on the Big Lie, that is part of the national coordinated assault on voting rights. Please join us by urging voters to “Decline to Sign.”
The extreme partisans behind Secure MI Vote have made their plan clear. They plan to collect 340,047 signatures and submit them to the Michigan Legislature. Instead of putting this measure on the ballot, our legislators will adopt the language of the petition into law. There will be no opportunity for a gubernatorial veto, and Michigan voters will never have the opportunity to vote against rolling back voting access.
Since March, 30+ field leaders have been preparing their teams for voter education. In addition to team training, they have been writing letters to the editor, tabling or clipboarding at farmer’s markets and festivals, and knocking on doors from Marquette to Muskegon to Plymouth. In September, VNP teams covered 24 events and collected nearly 600 pledge cards, while making over 500 recruitment calls as part of weekly phonebanks.
Now is the time for laser focus on our next steps.
The thousands of volunteers who collected signatures for Prop 2 understand the power of the individual conversations that took place when collecting signatures. VNP volunteers explained gerrymandering and collected signatures at every opportunity, and did it with integrity. We simply cannot allow “Secure MI Vote” to misrepresent both the contents of the petition and the process by which it will be adopted while collecting signatures from unsuspecting voters. We know that many folks might be tricked into signing petitions because “Secure MI Vote” will misrepresent their campaign. They will tell voters that the petition is about voter security or integrity when it is about neither; and they will tell voters to sign to put the measure on the ballot, when Secure MI Vote has no intention of having voters vote on the measures. We need to get the facts out so voters know what these petitions are really about, and so that they Decline to Sign.
The single biggest task ahead of us is identifying the location of petition circulators. We need 300 trained spotters looking in strategic locations every single day. Sign up here to volunteer, or learn more by making an appointment to talk with a Regional Organizer.
Eliminating the option would make it harder for some Michiganders to vote. Require voters applying for an absentee ballot to include their driver license or state ID number, along with the last four digits of their Social Security number, on their application. Michigan does not currently have ID rules for absentee ballot applications, but voters are required to show ID when registering, and election clerk workers perform a form of identity check on absentee ballot applications by comparing voter signatures to those on file with the state.