North Michigan News

LANSING, Mich. — State Sen. Ed McBroom on Thursday voted against reporting out of committee a series of "voting rights" bills that he argues would impose significant new legal and workload burdens on local government units and clerks.

"This so-called 'State Voting Rights Act' legislation purports to protect voting rights, but our right to vote is already well protected by the Michigan Constitution. Passing more laws is redundant and just creates confusion," said McBroom, R-Waucedah Township. "What these completely unnecessary bills would actually do is create new headaches for local clerks by substantially increasing reporting requirements and their overall elections-related workload while costing taxpayers millions of dollars."

McBroom emphasized the critical role local clerks play in maintaining democracy, stating, "Our local clerks are the backbone of our democracy. They are not given enough credit for the countless hours they put in on a regular basis to ensure the people have a voice. This package ignored them. Local clerks didn’t ask for these bills, and they don’t need them."

Senate Bills 401-404 propose new mandates on local government units and clerks, potentially exposing them to lawsuits over issues such as poll location changes. The bills also suggest creating a large database at one of Michigan’s universities aimed at facilitating lawsuits against local governments and clerks.

"Election security matters and stopping voter suppression matters, and we have good laws doing both," McBroom said. "These bills are bad policy not just because they are costly and unnecessary, but because they are harmful to our election process and our neighbors who serve as clerks and poll workers. Local clerks who diligently follow the law should not have to constantly worry about lawsuits if someone objects to how best to effectively and fairly run an election in their community."