The passage of Proposal 3 in 2018, nicknamed “Promote the Vote,” brought Michiganders no-excuse absentee voting and the ability to register to vote all the way up to Election Day (among other excellent expansions of voting rights). After its passage by a 2-1 margin, Daily Kos’ Stephen Wolf jubilantly announced that “Michigan is poised to go from one of the worst states for voting access to one of the best.” Without these reforms protecting Michigan voters’ access to the voting process in 2020—during the depths of COVID-19, when no-excuse absentee voting and the presence of ballot drop boxes reduced the necessity of voting in person—Michigan’s election results likely would have been very different. Instead, the state moved from an embarrassing margin of victory of 10,704 votes for Donald Trump in 2016 to a much more satisfying 154,188-vote win for Joe Biden.
Smarting from their loss, Republicans in the Michigan legislature have made several attempts to reimpose restrictions on voting, which Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has fortunately been in a position to veto. These relentless GOP attacks on voting rights clarified the need to put several more voting rights into the state constitution, out of reach of the legislature. Thus, the fine folks at Promote the Vote Michigan picked up where the success of 2018’s Proposal 3 left off.
Now, it’s time once again for everyone in the Great Lakes State to vote Yes and help shore up democracy in Michigan.
There are only two weeks left until what may be the most important midterm election of our lifetimes. Click here to help get out the vote, wherever you live!
Organizational backers this time around for the Promote the Vote campaign include the ACLU of Michigan, League of Women Voters of Michigan, All Voting is Local, and Voters Not Politicians. Citizen support is also strong enough for the initiative to have gained almost double the minimum number of signatures to get it on the ballot—this time as Proposal 2. (To clarify a common point of confusion: This cycle, Proposal 3 is the one called “Reproductive Freedom for All”—also very much meriting a Yes vote.)
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Here’s the ballot language of 2022’s Proposal 2:
Proposal 22-2
A proposal to amend the state constitution to add provisions regarding elections.
This proposed constitutional amendment would:
- Recognize fundamental right to vote without harassing conduct;
- Require military or overseas ballots be counted if postmarked by election day;
- Provide voter right to verify identity with photo ID or signed statement;
- Provide voter right to single application to vote absentee in all elections;
- Require state-funded absentee-ballot drop boxes, and postage for absentee applications and ballots;
- Provide that only election officials may conduct post-election audits;
- Require nine days of early in-person voting;
- Allow donations to fund elections, which must be disclosed;
- Require canvass boards certify election results based only on the official records of votes cast.
Should this proposal be adopted?
[ ] YES
[ ] NO
2022’s Prop 2 includes modest but necessary measures to protect our democracy, but its opponents are resorting to their usual tricks of misinformation shading into downright lies. Prop 2's actual language does not expand the franchise to people who currently are not able to vote, namely currently incarcerated people post-conviction, as noted in a detailed Bridge Michigan analysis of the proposal. Instead, the changes proposed will support the ability of eligible voters to participate in elections. Inclusion of these changes within the Michigan Constitution would provide an additional layer of assurance that voters can cast their ballots without undue restrictions, now and henceforth.
A helpful reference at Ballotpedia reiterates the impact of Prop 2:
Proposal 2 would add several voting and election policies to the Michigan Constitution. Some of these policies would be new, such as early voting. Others exist as state statute and would be codified as constitutional law, such as the state's requirement that voters show identification or sign an affidavit to vote in person.
Admittedly, some uncertainty exists about the implementation of a nine-day early in-person voting process, which would be novel in Michigan. A Votebeat article written by Oralandar Brand-Williams, and reprinted in Bridge Michigan, explains the potential impact if the nine-day early voting period becomes a mandate:
Paul Gronke, a political science professor and director of the Elections & Voting Information Center at Reed College in Oregon, said that when implementing early voting, the “devil is in the details” of its provisions, but generally the expansion does increase voter turnout.
“Early voting is broadly popular,” said Gronke. “When voters can have the option, they go for it.”
Michigan already allows early in-person absentee voting for 40 days before the election, when voters can go to their local clerk’s office — or, in a few cities, a satellite office — to apply for and cast an absentee ballot. Proposal 2 would give voters a full work week and two weekends to go to a polling site and cast a ballot the same way they do on Election Day, including feeding it into a tabulator themselves.
Considering how important the 2018 gains in voting access were, I daresay that the protections we can guarantee now, in 2022, will be similarly crucial in 2024. We must further secure democracy in Michigan now if we want to head into 2024 from a position of strength.
If you live in Michigan, please vote Yes on Prop 2. No matter where you live, you can encourage your friends and family in Michigan to do the same. And once you vote, why not help out with other GOTV activities, including some specifically related to Prop 2?
We can do it, Michigan! But it will take all we can give.
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