An overwhelming majority of Michigan voters oppose an initiative called 'Promote the Vote.' | Pexels/Edmond Dantès
An overwhelming majority of Michigan voters oppose an initiative called 'Promote the Vote.' | Pexels/Edmond Dantès
As organizers behind a ballot initiative are mounting a push toward the November election, election integrity advocates are sounding the alarm. A local GOP chairman says the Promote the Vote ballot initiative will weaken Michigan election law, which is opposed by a supermajority of Michiganders from across the political spectrum.
"As a lifelong Michigander, it is a moral outrage that we are seeing Promote the Vote deceive our neighbors with a highly-funded dark money-backed campaign to intentionally distort our elections and violate our constitution," Shane Trejo, Michigan's 11th District GOP chairman, said in a statement. "This is not a Republican or Democrat issue, this is a matter of securing our elections and protecting our state."
The Board of State Canvassers, a bipartisan committee, is meeting Wednesday to vote on whether organizers of ballot initiatives collected enough voter signatures to secure a place on the ballot for the November election, the Detroit Free Press reported. Organizers must collect a minimum of 425,059 signatures from Michigan voters in order to secure a spot on the ballot, the story said.
The Democrat-led group Promote the Vote is funded by out-of-state, and even international sources, including billionaire George Soros, Politico reported.
A vast majority of funding for Promote the Vote came from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Bridge Michigan reported.
Together, the amount given from the national ACLU group in New York and the amount given from ACLU’s Michigan branch accounts for 86% of Promote the Vote’s funding, according to Bridge MI. ACLU has a history of being funded by Soros' Open Society Foundations.
According to Campaign Finance Contribution data from the Michigan Secretary of State's Office, Promote the Vote received $2.5 million from the ACLU.
According to the Michigan Secretary of State's Office, voters do not currently need to show a photo ID to register to vote. A utility bill qualifies as a form of ID.
A supermajority, 75%, of Michiganders support showing an ID in order to vote, Great Lakes Wire reported.
Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer vetoed Republican-led efforts to secure Michigan elections including voter ID, Great Lakes Wire reported.
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