Grand Rapids’ LINK UP hosted a town hall Wednesday evening devoted to educating the public about new Michigan voting laws.
The Grand Rapids Voter Access Town Hall is bringing together community leaders along with Kent County and Grand Rapids government officials focused on helping community members navigate new voting laws. In particular, new voting rights enacted with the passages of Proposal 2. That includes early voting of up to nine days before election day and absentee voting.
“Once you sign up to be absentee, that is going to be forever.”
Erica Bouldin is a Climate Justice Organizers at Urban Core Collective.
“So, you don’t have to go back every single year and update that. And you don’t have to be disabled or out of the country or anything like that.”
“We’re also going to be expanding the requirements for absentee ballot drop boxes across the state.”
Charlie Beall is Director of Education Programs at Voters Not Politicians Education Fund. He explained seamless and secure access for voters is the goal.
“These new rights need a lot of education across the state so that voters know what their menu of options looks like.”
Melinda Billingsley explained the Grand Rapids Voter Access Town Hall is part of the larger 2024 My City Votes Campaign sponsored by Voters Not Politicians Education Fund.
“It’s just really important that voters in every community, but especially in communities that have been historically marginalized in our democracy get access to this information.”
This story was originally published by WGVU Public Media. Read more here: https://www.wgvunews.org/news/2023-12-07/grand-rapids-voter-access-town-hall-is-part-of-the-larger-2024-my-city-votes-campaign
