Great Lakes Wire

Michigan Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Sen. Jim Stamas (R-Midland) recently accused Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of using the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) to suppress Michigan voters and potentially keep them from voting in the today's presidential election, according to the MiSenateGOP website.

Stamas accuses the governor of ruling though the MDHHS after the Michigan Supreme Court recently struck down Whitmer's emergency orders as unconstitutional.  

“I am frustrated and extremely disappointed that the governor continues to go it alone and refuses to accept the Supreme Court’s message to work together with the Legislature regarding our response to the COVID-19 outbreak. She is using every trick to keep power and keep Michigan’s families isolated,” Stamas said, according to MiSenateGOP.

Sen. Jim Stamas | #MiSenateGOP

The MDHHS recently revised and expanded its COVID-19 orders to make masks in schools mandatory, require bars and restaurants to keep the names and contact information of their customers, increase limits on outdoor gatherings and move the Northern Michigan region back to Phase 4.

Stamas said that these orders could be used to isolate and instill fear, and they could affect the presidential election if voters don’t feel that it's safe to vote in person at the polls.

“Michigan needs to resume life safely, but the governor and her departments’ continued use of fear tactics could impede that goal and even suppress the vote in [the] election if voters fear it’s unsafe to go to the polls," Stamas told MiSenateGOP.

“The state Legislature has attempted to work with the governor to protect our people and reopen Michigan safely, but she continues to act unilaterally and harm working families,” Stamas continued, according to MiSenateGOP. “Considering the impact of this order on the lives of Michigan families, I urge the governor and her department to immediately share with the Legislature the specific data that was used to make this new order.”