Michigan House committee moves bill to remove non-voters from qualified voter file
Michigan lawmakers on the state House Election Integrity Committee approved a bill Tuesday aimed at confirming if longtime non-voters are still eligible to vote before elections.
Many people have lost trust in elections, Rep. Mike Hoadley (R-Au Gres) told lawmakers on the committee last week as he presented his bill, House Bill 4356, aimed to 'clean up' the qualified voter file of eligible voters. Hoadley, whose 2022 House campaign was backed by President Donald Trump, remarked that after weeks of testimony from individuals, many of which question the integrity of the 2020 election where Trump lost to former President Joe Biden, that there are real doubts from Michiganders about the sanctity of electoral processes.
Speakers who have provided testimony to the committee over the first few weeks of the committee have included a Detroit-area pastor who delivered the benediction at President Donald Trump's second inauguration in January and vocal critic of Michigan's voter roll and co-founder of Check My Vote Phani Mantravadi.
House Bill 4356 would require the Michigan Secretary of State to send mailed notices to Michigan voters who have not voted in the last 10 years in order for them to confirm they're still eligible voters who should remain on the qualified voter file.
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Those notices would have to be sent to voters within 180 days after each general November election with information on what will happen if a response is not received. Parties interested in remaining on the voter file would have to complete and sign a card enclosed in the notice confirming their current address to their local clerk at least 15 days before the next election.
If the person does not submit the card or engage in a 'voting-related activity' such as requesting an absentee voter application or updating their voter registration, they would have to confirm their current address at the polls before they could vote.
Upon receiving the card from a voter who would like to remain on the voter file, the local city or township clerk would compare the signature on the card to the one on file in the qualified voter file and if the signatures don't match, the registration will be considered 'challenged' and that person would have to provide proof of their residency and their voter certification when trying to vote.
The process of sending the notices and processing them will take time, Hoadley told the committee last week, but it's 'time well spent'.
The committee cleared the bill to be considered by the House as a whole with approval from all of the Republican members of the committee except for Rep. Joseph Fox (R-Fremont) who voted against the bill while the three Democratic members passed.
Oversight Committee Chair Jay DeBoyer (R-Clay Twp.), who previously served as the clerk of St. Clair County, overseeing elections, supported Hoadley's sentiments last week, telling the committee that whether elections have been secure or not in the past, there are plenty of people who have completely lost confidence.
'At the end of the day, that confidence in the electorate and the outcome of an election is what matters, and that confidence, whether it's founded or unfounded, still matters, so we have to provide tools to the Department of State or the Office of the Secretary of State for them to navigate their duties and their roles and provide us with a more secure voter roll list,' DeBoyer said.
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