“It’s not every day that Michigan’s bureaucracy violates state and federal law while disenfranchising more than 700,000 Michigan voters,” opens the legal brief filed in the Michigan Supreme Court last Thursday by Americans for Citizen Voting – Michigan. “But that’s exactly what happened [last] week.”
The group (which I chair) has worked for the last year to place the Citizen Only Voting Amendment on Michigan’s November ballot. It makes two basic reforms: requires the Secretary of State to check the voter rolls, identifying and removing noncitizens in a fair process, and requires photo identification to cast a ballot.
Last week, the Board of State Canvassers, two appointed Democrats and two appointed Republicans, deadlocked repeatedly, 2-2, on counting petition signatures even when they agreed that the signer was a registered Michigan voter, and then, on whether to certify the issue for the ballot.
“The initiative’s sample was left just three signatures short of certification for the ballot,” Sen. Ruth Johnson explained in The Detroit News, “after Democrats on the board refused to count the signatures of nine Michigan voters whose identities had been verified by a notary public, and who signed affidavits under penalty of perjury that the signatures on the petitions in question were theirs.”
“These are real affidavits from real people who are real voters who signed these petitions,” Republican Board Chair Richard Housekamp implored his two Democratic colleagues.
“The signature matches,” acknowledged Democratic Vice-Chair Mary Ellen Gurewitz, “but whether it should be counted . . . um . . . I think we should decide later.”
“So, you’re going to hold the voter hostage is what I hear you saying,” Housekamp replied.
“You should not have to stop to check the count,” wrote Johnson, a former Secretary of State, “before giving credit for a signature you have already acknowledged is valid. . . .
“Two unelected members of an obscure state board,” she concluded, “cannot be allowed to strip away the constitutional rights of nearly one in 10 adults in our state who signed a petition to place this issue
That’s why we and the 700,000 Michiganders who signed our petition want our day in court. Left without any response at all from Michigan’s Democrat-dominated Supreme Court, on Monday we filed an emergency petition with the U.S. Supreme Court.
Yesterday, Justice Brett Kavanaugh ordered the Michigan Secretary of State, Bureau of Elections and Board of State Canvassers to respond to our appeal by noon today. Our day is coming.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
Illustration created with Nano Banana
See all recent commentary
(simplified and organized)
See recent popular posts
2 replies on “Maddened in Michigan”
Apparently the Michigan Secretary of State, Bureau of Elections, Board of State Canvassers, and the Michigan State Supreme Court believe that nonfeasance is a trump card to be played when an unappealing outcome will otherwise result.
With respect to many contested issues of fact, we often hear or read demands for evidence. One sort of evidence to which all reasonable people attend comprises attempts to prevent investigation and testing.
To me, actual casting of votes by ineligible persons seems a highly inefficient means of stealing elections. Of course some such casting happens, but I would be inclined to doubt that it happens on a scale sufficient to make a difference outside of an odd municipal election here or there. And yet Democratic officials work so hard to prevent investigation and testing.
I agree with Mr. Mc Kiernan on pretty much all counts here (a rare occurrence), and if the state of Michigan is going to have an initiative petition process (as it should), that process should be honestly conducted by everyone involved, including the Board of State Canvassers. Hopefully SCOTUS will compel that outcome.
I must confess, though, that part of me hopes it doesn’t, just so you’ll consider getting a gig that gets you back to promoting liberty instead of moral panic and demagoguery.