Latest news with #HouseElectionIntegrityCommittee
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Michigan clerks speak up in support of bill to preserve local authority over voting machine testing
Kent County Clerk Lisa Posthumus Lyons at a meeting of the House Election Integrity Committee. July 1, 2025. | Photo by Kyle Davidson/Michigan Advance Election clerks from across the state spoke up before the House Election Integrity Committee Tuesday, offering their support for a piece of legislation aimed at preserving their say in pre-election testing of voting machines. Committee Chair Rachelle Smit (R-Martin), a former election clerk, told her colleagues that for years, local clerks have successfully conducted logic and accuracy testing of their machines by working with vendors of their choosing. However, Smit raised concerns that a recent contract acquired by the Michigan Secretary of State could require clerks to use only their contracted vendor to generate test decks. 'This represents a fundamental shift from our local control to state mandated centralization, a shift that raises concerns about the integrity, transparency and fiscal responsibility. The bill before us today provides very clear, common sense protections that preserve local autonomy while ensuring proper standards. Specifically it protects local choice,' Smit said. Smit's House Bill 4602 states that the Secretary of State cannot bar or restrict local clerks from using any lawful source for creating testing materials. 'Our local clerks are directly accountable to their communities. This legislation ensures that they retain the tools and autonomy necessary to fulfill that responsibility. When problems arise, clerks need direct control over the processes and relationships with their vendors,' Smit said, later emphasizing that local jurisdictions operate under tight budgets. However, Smit's proposal drew some questions, both from the committee's Democratic members and representatives from the Department of State. State Rep. Matt Koleszar (D-Plymouth) questioned if Smit's proposal would eliminate all oversight on these kinds of vendors, raising concerns that this could benefit bad actors, or vendors who simply are not good at supplying testing materials. However, Smit said the election commission in each county would retain their oversight under her bill. Adam Fracassi, deputy director of elections for the Michigan Bureau of Elections broke down the contract with Ballot IQ, which is intended to create an expanded form used in testing the voting machines used in the state. This expanded deck would include an additional test to ensure results between different races have not been swapped, he said. 'The reason for this is in an effort to provide just a stronger safeguard against errors, a stronger safeguard against the processes, and enhance the integrity of our election,' Fracassi said. As the bureau begins to roll pieces of this new system out, Fracassi said some clerks were interested in having this deck available as an option, and the bureau is looking at ways to make the test deck available to them. 'The idea is that this test deck would be available to clerks without cost, so it's an option for them to be able to utilize it to save them money,' he said. Having this test deck as an option, not as a requirement, would offer clerks another resource in the testing process, Fracassi said. The second part of the contract with Ballot IQ would be to develop an electronic system for clerks to submit ballot proofs to the Bureau of Elections, so the bureau can review them more efficiently. Michigan's election law requires county clerks to submit ballot proofs for approval, which Fracassi emphasized is largely done manually, and must be done in a very short period of time. 'One of the other requirements for the contract is to provide us with additional resources to be able to streamline that a little bit better, to make it faster for us to review ballot proofs, and to make it easier for clerks to transmit the information to us and us to transmit the information back to the county clerks,' Fracassi explained. Erin Schor, the Michigan Department of State's legislative policy director, echoed earlier concerns about Smit's bill stripping oversight over testing vendors, asking for a potential change to clarify that these vendors would still be subject to the Department's rules on the testing process. The department also holds concerns about one of the bill's provisions barring the Secretary of State from centralizing ballot information for the purpose of creating test decks. 'It would be one thing if that just talked about mandating, but I'm concerned that with the language, the way it's written, if we were in a situation where best practice required Michigan to update our rules, and for some reason, there was only one vendor that was prepared to meet the new threshold at that time, we would not be able to update the rules to meet the best practice,' Schor said. Schor also raised concerns about the bill's requirements for the test deck creation process to be reproducible, noting that the rules they had recently put forth on election system testing were not that specific as far as how to set up the math and programming to create these decks. While the Department of State did not offer a position on the bill, multiple election clerks offered their support to Smit's legislation. Kent County Clerk Lisa Posthumus Lyons, a former Republican state representative, told members of the committee that the contract's requirements around streamlining the process of sending and keeping ballot proofs means they want official ballots with timing marks, not valid proofs. This creates significant security concerns, Posthumus Lyons warned, as holding a centralized record of ballots could result in nefarious action, where these ballots are duplicated and sent out. She also emphasized that local clerks know what works best for their jurisdictions. 'I and my colleagues have spent years promoting how transparent testing of our equipment before each and every election ensures the accuracy of our votes. We've also touted our decentralized process as an important element of election security,' Posthumus Lyons said. 'We can and we should seek to improve our process, but we shouldn't do so at the expense of foregoing these foundational, tried and true elements that work so well.' Oakland County Clerk and Register of Deeds Lisa Brown opened her testimony, joking that her agreement with Posthumus Lyons on policy was a historic moment given the pair's past on opposing sides of the House. However, she emphasized that this policy is not a partisan issue, and is solely aimed at preserving the authority of local election commissions to create and oversee their testing process. 'I understand that it's being said that it's an option right now. I've also heard that it's eventually going to be mandated, and that is so problematic,' Brown said, noting her discomfort in sending her ballots to someone she did not contract with. 'I think that's problematic. I think it's overreach, and I think that there is a security issue to it,' she said. Prior to hearing testimony on Smit's policy, the committee also took comments on House Bills 4358, 4359, 4698, 4699, which Rep. Mike Hoadley (R-Au Gres) said would extend the terms of office for various local elected officials until after election results have been certified by the appropriate board of canvassers. Under Proposal 2, approved by voters in the 2022 election, clerks are permitted to tally absentee ballots submitted by servicemembers and overseas voters that are postmarked by election day and received up to six days after election day. However, local officials take office not long after the election, meaning they can take office before these ballots are even counted, Hoadley noted. The bills also received strong support from the clerks in attendance. The committee adjourned without voting on any of the legislation considered at Tuesday's meeting.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Michigan House tees up contempt resolution against Benson over election manuals subpoena
Rep. Jay DeBoyer (R-Clay Township), chair of the Michigan House Oversight Committee, announcing plan for a resolution to hold Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson in contempt. On the left is Rep. Ann Bollin (R-Brighton Township), chair of the House Appropriations Committee, and on his right is Rep. Rachelle Smit (R-Martin), chair of the House Election Integrity Committee. May 22. 2025 | Photo by Ben Solis Three key Michigan House Republicans on Thursday said they will request a resolution to hold Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson in contempt for bucking a subpoena request for unredacted election training manuals. Rep. Jay DeBoyer (R-Clay Township), chair of the Michigan House Oversight Committee, announced the plan at a news conference with Rep. Ann Bollin (R-Brighton Township), chair of the House Appropriations Committee, and Rep. Rachelle Smit (R-Martin), chair of the House Election Integrity Committee. The move could result in litigation against the department, presumably with a request for the court to order Benson to hand over the information. In a statement to Michigan Advance, the Department of State said their concerns for safety of election information were valid given the fact that the House gave DeBoyer authority to disclose confidential information to anyone he chooses at his discretion. Smit, when she was the minority vice chair of the House Elections Committee, requested access to the Bureau of Elections' e-learning portal, which holds education and training materials for the state's local clerks. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX When she became chair of the now-renamed Election Integrity Committee, Smit brought the matter to DeBoyer's oversight committee, which then issued a subpoena to the Michigan Department of State for any materials that had not already been provided to DeBoyer by May 13. The department said multiple times that it was working to fulfill Smit's and DeBoyer's individual requests, but the department was wary of releasing the materials without review or redaction for security reasons. On Thursday, Bollin, DeBoyer and Smit called foul on that position and said enough was enough. '[Our] olive branch was that we said … we'll give you until 11 a.m. today to sit down and have an opportunity to discuss some of the items that they believe are privileged or protected items,' DeBoyer said. 'Whether we agree or disagree with the theory, we believe in professionalism. So we did that, and the response to us, essentially in a letter that was returned to us this morning, said now they're not providing us with anything further with regard to that.' That included declining the offer to sit down and hash it out, DeBoyer said. 'That's a pretty disappointing thing,' he said. 'After all, the Legislature is the body that determines how elections are run, the time, the manner, the place, the laws by which they are implemented. [Smit] has not only the right but the duty in that role to request the information that is used to train local clerks with regard to how they administer elections.' That said, in the letter sent Thursday the department did agree to sit down for a meeting with House legal counsel, but indicated that it would like to have an independent third-party mediator present to resolve questions about disclosing confidential information. It also questioned the scope and purpose of the committee's inquiry. 'The Committee's generalized purpose of investigating how every election law is implemented by DOS is so broad as to emit no purpose. But even if that purpose were assumed to be legitimate, the Committee has made no effort to explain why the sensitive information is pertinent to or necessary for its investigation,' the letter said. A spokesperson for the department said it would have additional comment on the issue later. 2025.05.22 FINAL Pattwell House 2025 Subpoenas But, given the perception that the House was being stonewalled, DeBoyer said House Republicans had no choice but to ask the full chamber to support a resolution holding Benson in contempt. The next steps could include litigation. 'I think that's a strong possibility, but what a sad day for Michigan,' DeBoyer said. 'I happened to be a local clerk, as well, in 2020 when [Benson] told local clerks to not worry about signature verification on returned absentee ballots. … This is a continual problem, and the fact that we have to perhaps go to court is a shame for the people of the state of Michigan.' Smit, who also served a clerk prior to serving in the Legislature, said she could not fathom the security risks cited by Benson and the department as reasons to not release the documents or to spend excess time redacting and reviewing them. 'it just makes us [ask]: What is it that the Department of State is hiding [in] the training materials? If there is such sensitive and protected information, then why can't Secretary of State Benson explain to us what that is and sit down?' Smit questioned. 'I have been asking to have this since November 7, 2023. It is nearly seven months. We are still here without the information.' Bollin, also a former clerk, said many of these documents are available on the secretary of state's website under the election administrator tab. She wondered what was so secretive about the e-learning portal as opposed to that front-facing information. The cadre of representatives was asked if it appeared as though Benson was trying to run out the clock on the request. DeBoyer said he didn't want to speculate on her thinking, but said that has been a tactic he's seen play out in Lansing before. Bollin added that the people of Michigan deserved transparency and confidence in their elections, and that Benson's unwillingness to comply with requests from the Republican-controlled House did not instill confidence. DeBoyer went a step further and called Benson's action lawless. Benson is one of several names in the race to seek the Democratic nomination for governor. Her campaign has stumbled a bit out of the gate, with the pending contempt resolution adding to headaches over the disastrous rollout of the Michigan Transparency Network campaign finance system and the Department of Attorney General finding her in violation of the Michigan Campaign Finance Act for holding her announcement event in the lobby of the building that houses her department.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Michigan House committee moves bill to remove non-voters from qualified voter file
Michigan Capitol | Susan J. Demas 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. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 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.
Yahoo
04-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
MDOS releases thousands of pages of election documents in response to House Oversight Committee
Absentee ballot | Susan J. Demas Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson's office made nearly 2,000 pages of election documents public Friday after providing them to a legislative oversight committee. The Michigan Department of State materials include training newsletters sent to clerks, the clerk training accreditation manual and the Election Day 'flip chart' manual used by election workers at the polls. Combined with documents previously released to the committee, there are now more than 3,000 pages of election documents available on the department's website. A press release from the department said it will continue to release additional materials after reviewing them to redact any sensitive information that it says could compromise election security. 'Everyone at the Michigan Department of State is committed to transparency and openness to the people we serve,' said Khyla Craine, the department's chief legal director. 'We are also committed to protecting sensitive information which, if publicly released, could be used by bad actors to interfere with the chain of custody of ballots, tamper with election equipment, or impersonate a clerk on Election Day.' But Rep. Rachelle Smit (R-Martin), who chairs the House Election Integrity Committee, said the documents provided so far have primarily been newsletters that do not match the training materials requested by legislators. 'Leave it to our Secretary of State to 'transparently' dump 1,900 pages of the wrong stuff on a Friday afternoon,' Smit said. 'We will conduct a thorough review of everything her department released today. But, after sifting through the information for several hours, we've yet to see much of the substantive training materials we requested. Secretary Benson knows what we are asking for, and she [is] refusing to give us access anyway.' Benson's office says reviewing the documents has 'required hundreds of hours and cost thousands of taxpayer dollars to review and produce.' While the House Oversight Committee voted last month to issue a subpoena for the documents, the department says it will 'continue to release additional materials to the Committee and on the public site once the department's legal and election security teams are able to review them and redact any sensitive information that could compromise election security.'
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Democrats say Michigan House committee is a ‘circus' after platforming election deniers
From left to right; Deputy Secretary of State Aghogho Edevbie, and State Reps. Stephen Wooden (D-Grand Rapids), Matt Koleszar (D-Plymouth) host a press roundtable to discuss what they say is House Republicans' weaponization of the House Election Integrity Committee. March 25, 2025. Michigan House photo. After Detroit-area pastor Lorenzo Sewell, an advocate of President Donald Trump, testified this week in the newly renamed Michigan House Election Integrity Committee, Republican and Democratic members of the committee are at odds on their respective visions of fair elections. While Republicans regarded the testimony of Sewell and Detroit-area activist Ramon Jackson, who alleged without proof mass fraud in recent presidential elections, as an important look at Michigan's election systems, Democrats decried the day as nothing more than a 'circus'. Sewell, the pastor of 180 Church in Detroit, who delivered the benediction at Trump's second inaugural in January and gained national attention for his impassioned speech, was a key surrogate in 2024 for Trump's campaign to win over voters in Detroit, a historically Democratic voting block. And though support for Trump increased in Detroit in 2024 compared to his 2016 run, Sewell told lawmakers the people of Detroit are being misrepresented in elections due to 'cheating' and he and Jackson are looking to change that. 'Just like Detroit has moved the world through music with Motown, just like Detroit has moved the world through the automotive industry, so it is Detroit is about to move the world with fair elections, because if we don't have fair elections, we do not have a democracy. We don't have fair elections, we're like China. We have literally become what we hate if we don't have fair elections,' Sewell said. Sewell introduced Jackson as the 'political minister' of 180 Church, which hosted Trump for a campaign visit in June. Jackson told lawmakers on the committee that he had evidence of individuals who say they didn't vote or have since left the city but their vote was counted in Detroit. And the search for 'poison' in Michigan's Qualified Voter file isn't over, Jackson said, and members of the church will continue to seek out examples of fraud. During the hearing, Rep. Matt Koleszar (D-Plymouth) asked Jackson for details on the allegations he was making. 'You had mentioned that you knew that a lot of these alleged illegal votes were going to Democratic candidates saying they voted straight ticket Democratic Party,' Koleszar said. 'Sir, voting is secret ballot, so how could you possibly know that?' 'I know that based on who won. A cheated vote won't go to a loser,' replied Jackson. Committee Chair Rep. Rachelle Smit (R-Martin) thanked the pair for testifying and for investigating the issue of reported fraud in Detroit. 'These reports and claims are very concerning, especially since we are repeatedly told that our elections are completely safe and secure,' Smit said in a statement after the committee hearing. 'If these claims are accurate, and the scale and scope are this bad, then Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Attorney General Dana Nessel clearly aren't doing their jobs, and they're failing the people of Michigan.' But it's Republican leadership that is failing the people of Michigan, Koleszar said in his own statement after the committee. Koleszar and other Democrats have condemned actions taken by the House's election committee, which has been given an 'integrity' focus, by new GOP leadership who have repeated Trump's disproven claims that he was cheated out of victory in the 2020 election. 'In the last few weeks, the House Elections Integrity Committee has devolved into a three-ring circus,' Deputy Secretary of State Aghogho Edevbie said following Tuesday's hearing. 'Today, Chair Smit decided to ignore verified information from the qualified voter file and over 250 bipartisan audits to once again relitigate the 2020 presidential election. Her continued attempts to defile Michigan voters demonstrates a stunning and profound lack of seriousness.' Currently, House Republicans are pursuing an amendment to the state constitution that would require proof of citizenship to vote in Michigan, which several Democrats have criticized as being akin to a poll tax while potentially keeping women who've changed their last name after getting married from being able to vote. 'It is disheartening to see the Republican leaders of the Election Integrity Committee continue to platform election deniers and prioritize their own political agenda over working on legislation that could make a real positive impact on Michiganders' lives,' Koleszar said in the statement. 'They are wasting taxpayer dollars by creating a circus of election disinformation, rather than governing responsibly. It's time to stop rehashing the past and stop misusing government time.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
