Michigan Senate committee approves three bills requiring voter ID reforms

LANSING, Mich. - The Senate Elections Committee approved three bills sending them to the full senate.

The bills would require people to show an ID when they vote.

The bills were supported by Ruth Johnson.

READ MORE: A Texas-sized fight over voting rights could be settled on Capitol Hill

“There is strong bipartisan support for requiring voters to use ID to vote,” said Johnson, R-Holly. “Ensuring the integrity of our elections is critical to a healthy democracy and requiring voters verify their identity with ID is the best way to protect the ‘one person, one vote’ standard.”

READ MORE: GOP senators revise ID requirement for ballot requests

A substitute adopted by Johnson’s committee for Senate Bill 285 would require anyone applying for an absentee ballot to verify their identity by providing their Michigan driver’s license number, Michigan personal ID card number or the last four digits of their Social Security number; or an individual could present their identification in person to their local clerk or include a copy of their driver’s license or state ID with their application.

The two other bills reported by the committee deal with in-person voting. SB 303 would require voters to show proper identification when voting in person. SB 304 would allow a voter who shows up in-person without proper identification to cast a provisional ballot and return to their local clerk within six days after the election to verify their identity so that their vote can be counted.

With the increase in absentee voting following Proposal 3, I think it is important we have the same standards for absentee voters that we have for in-person voters who are already asked to present their identification when voting,” Johnson said. “The vast majority of Michigan residents already have an ID and Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey has said it is a priority for him to find new ways that make it even easier for someone to get an ID if they need one.

That will help people on many fronts, not just voting. You need an ID for so many things from buying a home to opening a bank account to getting on a plane or even buying a fishing license.

The chair of the Michigan Democratic Party said these bills are Michigan voter suppression bills and the following statement was released:

It is disingenuous and dangerous to the foundation of America to hear our elected officials and their constituents continually testifying that voting should be treated and managed like a privilege as opposed to a right. Wars have been fought, lives have been lost, and people’s lives have been destroyed all in the fight for the RIGHT for all of us to vote, regardless of race, sex, or gender. The GOP attack on voting rights is just that – an attack. And it isn’t just happening in Michigan. This is a targeted attempt across the country to disenfranchise Democratic voters all because their Presidential candidate of choice didn’t win in 2020.

It is painfully obvious that the Republicans cannot beat us at the ballot box, and instead are attempting a shameful approach with the hopes of winning while disenfranchising millions of voters that have every right to cast a ballot.