Nancy Wang, Executive Director of Voters Not Politicians, released the following statement in response to Secure MI Vote’s petition signature announcement this afternoon:
“Today is a good day for Michigan voters. Secure MI Vote, which has misled voters on the streets for months about what their anti-voting rights initiative would do, will not be on the 2022 ballot. The Secure MI Vote campaign is a package of voter suppression bills disguised as a citizen initiative, and their use of dishonest tactics to mislead voters into signing the petition has been unconscionable.
“Let’s be clear – Secure MI Vote has no intention of walking away from this effort. Instead, they plan to bring this voter suppression initiative directly to the state legislature, meaning voters will never get the opportunity to go to the polls and correct the record on whether they support these voting restrictions.
“As a nonpartisan organization with expertise in collecting legitimate petition signatures, Voters Not Politicians has been gravely concerned throughout Secure MI Vote’s petition signature process. Now, we remain on guard, carefully watching the campaign’s next calculated play in their scheme to undermine our democracy and Michiganders’ voting rights.”
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Further Background — Voters Not Politicians (VNP) was notified of numerous reports of Secure MI Vote circulators misleading and lying to voters, undermining the voice of the people and the integrity of the petition process. Stories of aggressive and underhanded tactics were shared across social media, and concerned voters who realized they’d been taken advantage of reached out directly to VNP for support. As Michigan’s leading non-partisan democracy and voting rights organization, and as an authority on signature gathering and the petition process, VNP mobilized to collect these stories through a newly launched online tool: Tell Your Story: Petition Misinformation. The reports VNP has gathered are part of a clear and consistent pattern of misleading and dishonest statements made by Secure MI Vote circulators to deceive voters. Earlier this year, VNP released a recording of a Secure MI Vote circulator lying to a potential signer.
