LANSING, Mich. — The Secure MI Vote campaign says they’re confident they have enough signatures to get their initiative to the legislature.
Opponents say if approved, the Secure MI Vote ballot initiative would further disenfranchise minority and low-income voters.
“It's been a challenging process," said Jamie Roe, a spokesman for the Secure MI Vote campaign. "You know, the citizens legislative initiative system in Michigan is difficult and it should be difficult because we are trying to change state law.”
Among other changes the campaign aims to require a valid government ID to vote in the state and would prohibit the Michigan Secretary of State from mailing out unsolicited absentee ballots, both moves that opponents say will make it more difficult to vote. Roe argues that the Secure MI Vote plan addresses that issue.
“Our plan for the first time ever creates a fund that will be used to provide state issued photo ID to anyone who can't afford it," Roe said.
In order to get their effort in front of the legislature, Secure MI Vote needs more than 300,000 signatures and just two weeks ago it was reported that the campaign was nearly 100,000 signatures short– Roe said he’s confident the campaign will meet its goal, but encouraged circulators to get their sheets in.
"We need to file tomorrow. So if people still have petitions, they get them in today," he said on Tuesday.
If this campaign fails, the effort could be dead on arrival. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has vetoed similar proposals.
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