Posted on 12/16/2016 5:09:17 AM PST by MichCapCon
The Michigan House Election Committee chaired by Rep. Lisa Lyons, R-Alto, advanced a last-minute bill Thursday that she says will strengthen ballot security but opponents claim will suppress voting.
Lyons introduced the bill just two days earlier to revise the current system for individuals voting without a photo ID. It is unusual for legislators to bring new bills up for consideration with just weeks remaining in the session.
Currently, a person who wishes to vote in Michigan without presenting photo identification must sign an affidavit of identity. One out of every 266 Michigan voters signed an affidavit this year. According to the Secretary of State, of the 4,874,619 ballots cast statewide during the Nov. 8, election, 18,339 came from individuals who signed an affidavit.
Lyons believes there is a loophole in this system: There is no systematic follow-up to the affidavits, and they are rarely challenged on a case-by-case basis.
If Lyons’ bill is passed, a person without a picture ID could still vote by signing an affidavit, though on a provisional ballot. That is, the vote would only be counted if, within 10 days, the voter presented a picture ID to the local election clerk. The voter could, alternately, give evidence that presenting a picture ID would be impossible due to poverty or religious objections to being photographed.
Two companion bills would let indigent voters get birth certificates and state-issued ID cards free of charge. They also tell the Secretary of State to provide a non-photographic ID for voting purposes when a person cannot provide proper documentation.
In August, activist and videographer James O’Keefe and his organization Project Veritas made news by releasing a series of videos taken at polling places. O’Keefe’s associates tested Michigan ballot security by telling poll workers they were public figures such as Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, the rapper Eminem (aka Marshall Mathers), local news personalities and politicians. In all but one of the sting videos, the associates were offered a ballot in the famous person’s name, though all of them returned their ballots without actually voting.
“The intent of this legislation is to help ensure people have the proper documentation to prove their identity to ensure they can cast their ballot and have that vote,” Lyons said Wednesday.
Critics of the bill questioned how people without birth certificates could still vote under the legislation, particularly immigrants who weren’t granted birth certificates in their country of origin.
Merissa Kovach, a policy strategist for the American Civil Liberties Union, said to the committee, “The practical effect of these bills, we believe, will be to disenfranchise the vast majority of voters who simply don’t have ID or show up to the election without it.”
On the other side, Deb O’Hagan of West Bloomfield testified Thursday that under current law, investigating an affidavit of identity requires a court order.
“We’re relying on their word signing the affidavit that they are who they say they are,” she said. Affidavits “can only be pulled out through a court order, so there’s no further study of the signature on the affidavits.”
Eric Doster, a former lawyer for the Michigan Republican Party, called the current voter ID laws illusory.
“Project Veritas demonstrated that anyone can go in and sign an affidavit without consequences,” he said.
Oh, for pete’s sake. We have a national ID card. It’s called a passport. The Feds should issue one, free of charge to every adult citizen, updated every 10 years, and states should require voters to bring it to the polls. I’d be happy to see my tax money go for THAT.
Of COURSE this will suppress the vote.
No duplicate voting—as in “early and often”.
No Mecchhiccans (and others) voting at all.
What about the dead—they always seem to morph into Democrats once they hit room temperature.
Isn’t suppressing THIS vote KINDA THE POINT??
There is not anything particularly wrong with “suppressing” voting by verbal trickery (voting is on Wednesday this year) or by convincing people they shouldn’t vote, etc. There is everything right about requiring positive ID for voting regardless if that cuts out the wino who can’t be bothered getting himself an ID. Voting is better if only those with some real interest in the process and the awareness to discern what they are voting for - beyond being given another bottle or $20 cash.
Here’s an idea. If you can’t provide photo ID we’ll take your photo and hold onto it, matched with your ballot which is provisional until your photo can be validated.
Nobody votes at all in Indiana since we added the id.
What a ridiculous claim. Off the top of my head, I cannot think of a denomination that has a religious objection to a driver's license, passport, or other kind of photo being taken. The same with 'poverty'.
There is a point at which many laws are a burden for an extremely tiny group that might have some difficulties. But the law is nonetheless imposed. A marriage license is required for a legal marriage. A fishing or hunting license. Driving requirements. All of these have fees and other standards that must be met, and there are many other such laws.
The legislature acknowledges the greater good that is brought about by the law despite the difficulties an extremely small group of people might experience.
Hey, when 50 ballots for Hillary in Detroit are sealed in a ballot box and marked as 360 votes on the outside of that box, voter ID laws would not help that obvious voter fraud.
Instead, bring a bill that would charge any election official who had such obvious fraud in his/her precinct with a crime that requires a mandatory ten-year prison sentence. This traditional fraud in Democrat urban areas across the country is the real threat to our American electoral process, not Putin.
Well, to become a citizen with the LEGAL RIGHT TO VOTE requires someone at the State Dept. to fully vett all individuals requesting citizenship, a much more vigorous process.
At least for all legal citizens.
I used to scoff at the notion that in Soviet Union you needed an internal passport for travel within Russia.
Sadly, soon we will be the same way.
“Critics of the bill questioned how people without birth certificates could still vote under the legislation, particularly immigrants who weren’t granted birth certificates in their country of origin.”
My Filipina wife did not, (and still does not have a birth certificate). In order to immigrate to the US she had to provide an affidavit that all government documents were destroyed the Japanese at the end of WWII and affidavits from two persons that were present during or immediately after her birth. No legal immigrant is allowed into the US without proof of identity and they sure as heck can not be naturalized without proof.
Also, upon naturalization they are given a naturalization certificate that they protect lie it is gold, (because it is).
“It’s called a passport. The Feds should issue one, free of charge to every adult citizen”......
If they do, I want my money back for having to renew my wife and my personal passport last spring. Go check out what a passport costs today and you will know whey I demand my refund. (It was a marvelous cruise by the way)
The State Dept, I fear, no longer does any form of investigation that your wife would recognize as thorough and complete.
I have heard stories of complete strangers making up stories, signing the affidavit and collecting $100+ from each newly minted citizen.
NJ busts a citizenship mill every few years, and everyone in the media completely forgets about it the next day.
I want the ACLU to have a meeting—where they show up with at least 200 people who claim that do not have ID to vote.
I want this meeting to be held in a major location & I want the people attending to be from all 50 states.
I want actual proof that these people CANNOT get ID—or don’t have ID.
THEN I want them all to explain HOW they got to the meeting!!
IF a person refuses to be photographed for a voter ID, then how do they live? What driver’s license do they have? What ID to enter a place with a minimum age system? Parents cannot get on the school grounds without an ID. You cannot get welfare benefits without an ID.
I want Trump to insist on an ID or you do NOT vote. NO WAY NO HOW.
I was just going to post that. In these days of electronic linkups, have somebody from the DMV or other outfit in an adjacent room to produce the ID.
Problem, in the vast majority of cases, is solved.
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