Great Lakes Wire

The Michigan Legislature is taking aim at a federal bill known as HR 1, or the For the People Act of 2021, arguing that it would disenfranchise voters, allow for unregulated ballot harvesting and impede the accuracy of voter registration.

The Detroit Free Press reports that the Michigan House of Representatives recently adopted Michigan House Concurrent Resolution 0005, an official resolution denouncing the federal election bill, which house lawmakers say in the resolution “would force many misguided policies on states.” 

The concurrent resolution criticizes HR 1’s expansion of federal power and seeks to “reaffirm states' rights.”

Rep. John DaMoose (R-Harbor Springs) introduced HR OOO5 and stated from the House floor that “people from off places serving in Washington, D.C.” should not dictate Michigan election rules, according to the Detroit Free Press.

This is not the only move the Legislature has taken with respect to election law, as the Michigan Senate recently passed similar Senate Resolution 25.

In the opinion of Sen. Ruth Johnson (R-Holly), who sponsored Senate Resolution 25, the For the People Act is bad legislation.

“This legislation strips the ability of states to require reasonable identification standards for voters,” Johnson said in a March release. “It also takes away important tools to ensure clean voter rolls by prohibiting the use of the interstate crosscheck system we currently use to identify individuals who may have moved to another state. H.R. 1 erodes the sanctity of state election processes designed to ensure citizens have the right to participate in elections that are safe, secure and fair.”

The official Michigan Senate bill, MI SR25, echoes this sentiment, asserting that H.R. 1 would enable ballot harvesting and disenfranchise Michigan voters.

The U.S. House-passed version of H.R. 1 would require states to have a system to automatically register eligible residents to vote. Michigan currently has an automatic voter registration system.

A March 2021 Rasmussen poll revealed that 75% of likely voters in the United States believe photo identification should be required before a voter casts a ballot.