Great Lakes Wire

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s recent veto of election legislation approved by the Republican-controlled state Legislature is far from a death knell for a broader range of election reform measures that, among other election law changes, tighten voter ID requirements and ban local election officials from accepting private funds.

The bills, Senate Bills 303 and 304, and House Bill 5007, would have tightened voter ID laws in the state. SB 303 would remove the option to vote in-person without an ID by signing an affidavit affirming the voter's identity, and SB 304 addressed provisional ballots and voter verification. H 5007 eliminated the fee for state ID cards and prohibited election officials from accepting donations to fund election-related activities. Whitmer vetoed the bills on Oct. 29, telling lawmakers in a letter that the Senate bills "would disproportionately harm communities of color.”

“Non-white voters were about five times more likely to lack access to ID on Election Day than white voters,” she wrote. “Voter restrictions that produce such a racially disparate impact must never become law in this state.”

In late September, the Michigan Board of State Canvassers approved a statewide Secure MI Vote petition that could enact the Voter ID and other election law changes without the governor’s approval, if it gathers enough signatures.

Under a state constitutional provision, Secure MI Vote has six months to secure 340,000 signatures from registered voters to bring the proposal before the Legislature. With that approval, the changes become law without going before Whitmer.

Under current election law, those voting in-person, with no photo ID, can sign an affidavit attesting that they are who they say they are. The Secure MI Vote initiative would eliminate that option.

Ken Cuccinelli, the former Republican attorney general of Virginia and the national chairman of the Election Transparency Initiative (ETI), said in a statement that “when it comes to ensuring that it is easy to vote and hard to cheat in our elections, there is nothing more commonsense and popular than voter ID.

"We applaud the legislature for advancing this important legislation, but unfortunately it appears Gov. Whitmer is intent on preserving the status quo of keeping it easy to cheat in Michigan elections," he said. "We urge the governor to put politics aside in favor of fair, secure, and transparent elections every voter can trust, and to reject partisan pressure from Washington Democrats set on eroding election safeguards and confidence that every legal vote can be counted fairly and openly.”

Cuccinelli defines himself as fighting "on the front lines of the conservative movement" for more than 20 years.

In the same release, ETI cited data from the Michigan Department of State that shows that of 2.3 million voters who cast a ballot in-person in Michigan’s 2020 general election, 11,417 voted without an ID.

By a margin of 79.7% to 16.2%, Michigan voters overwhelmingly support requiring voters to present a government ID when voting in person, according to the results of a May statewide poll conducted by the Detroit Regional Chamber. The support includes majorities from every demographic group.

A separate poll by the Honest Elections Project shows that 64% of voters, including black (51%) and Hispanic (66%) voters, as well as urban (59%) and independent (61%) voters support increased voting safeguards that mitigate fraud.

Other measures in the Secure MI Vote initiative include requiring absentee ballot applicants to mail their driver's license number, state ID number or the last four digits of their Social Security number to their local clerk, allowing in-person or absentee voters without ID to cast a provisional ballot and prohibiting election officials from mailing out unsolicited absentee ballot applications.

President Joe Biden carried Michigan over former President Donald Trump by 154,000 votes in the 2020 election.