NORTHERN MICHIGAN – “Promote the Vote” 2022 launched a ballot initiative to improve both security and access to the polls in Michigan.
The 2020 election was the most secure and accurate on record, and the voters of Michigan turned out in record numbers. Promote the Vote 2022 picks up where Proposal 3 of 2018 left off by taking the extra steps necessary to create a voting system that works for everyone and making sure that voting is a fundamental right enshrined in our state constitution.
“Michiganders want secure and accessible elections, we want people to be able to vote without fear of intimidation, and we want to be confident that our votes will be counted,” said Christina Schlitt, co-president of League of Women Voters of Michigan. This ballot initiative takes a great step towards modernizing our elections and protecting our freedom to vote.”
The initiative includes public funding and resources to help local election officials do their jobs including funding for postage for absentee ballots and ballot tracking, and secure ballot dropboxes for every 15,000 voters in a municipality. The initiative will also preserve the authority of local governments to accept funding from publicly disclosed, public and charitable sources.
“It’s critical that our city and township clerks have the resources they need to securely and accessibly run our elections,” said Aghogho Edevbie, Michigan state director for All Voting is Local. “Local election officials across Michigan rely on donated spaces for polling locations, and while other ballot initiatives want to take away this essential service, this proposal would empower Michigan voters by securing this and other critical resources for local clerks to effectively do their jobs.”
Military and working families will have increased opportunities to cast ballots
Promote the Vote 2022 will increase accessibility by creating a true early voting system, with nine days of early, in-person voting where voters will be able to feed their ballot into a tabulator. The initiative will also allow voters to request that an absentee ballot be mailed to them for all future elections, without having to apply each time as long as the voter remains qualified to vote.
Creating a true early voting system means working parents have more options for how and when to vote and giving our military families the time that they need to return their ballots is critical to ensuring that every voter can cast their vote and that every ballot is counted.
The initiative would also ensure that the outcome of Michigan elections is determined solely by the votes cast by Michigan voters by directing the board of canvassers to certify election results based on a count of votes cast and clearly establishing that the board of canvassers is responsible for certifying the results of an election.
“Voters should decide the outcome of our elections, not politicians,” said Nancy Wang, executive director of Voters Not Politicians. “Unlike other ballot proposals that would take away the rights already afforded voters; this proposal gives voters more secure options for voting in Michigan. And, unlike other ballot initiatives that intend to proceed through the legislature and avoid a vote of the people, our initiative will be on the ballot this November so that voters, not politicians, decide the future of elections in Michigan.”
