A new ballot initiative filed with the Michigan Secretary of State Monday could nullify Republican-led efforts to restrict voting and enshrine a series of voting rights — including barring partisan interference in future elections — in the state’s constitution, election experts said Monday.
The “Promote the Vote 2022” ballot initiative would amend the state constitution to improve both security and access to the polls, including expanding early voting and allowing more time for military members to cast their ballots, voting rights leaders said at a Monday press conference. The initiative comes from Promote the Vote, the coalition behind Prop 3, a constitutional amendment Michigan voters from across the ideological spectrum passed in 2018 and which created no-reason absentee voting and same-day registration.
“We can’t ignore the fact that election interference is part of our reality right now,” Nancy Wang, executive director of Voters Not Politicians, said in an interview following Monday’s press conference. “…We’re protecting elections in Michigan from any sort of interference that we’re seeing groups like Secure MI Vote try to do to either actually change election results for future elections or decrease people’s confidence in our election administration.”
The initiative announced Monday would, if passed, go into effect for the 2023 primary election. The Secure MI Vote initiative would also go into effect by the 2023 election, unless the vote received backing from two-thirds of the state Senate — which would allow it to take immediate effect in 2022.
The Secure MI Vote has been backed by Republicans and does not appear to have the necessary backing of two-thirds of the Senate, which is split 22-16 in the GOP’s favor.
This story was originally published by Michigan Advance. Read more here: https://michiganadvance.com/2022/01/31/new-constitutional-amendment-could-nullify-gop-led-efforts-to-restrict-voting/
