According to the Michigan Secretary of State website, there were close to 11,000 rejected ballots in the August primary election. More than 80% were due to signature verification issues or late arrival. Make sure that your vote is counted this November!
Voting by mail has been championed — rightly, experts say — as the safest way to participate in the 2020 election while the nation remains under threat from the coronavirus. However, voting by mail disproportionately disenfranchises voters of color.
Review the results of efforts to get out the vote in Detroit and Pontiac. Also discussed will be on-going opportunities for volunteers to support efforts in order to influence the November election. RSVP here for connection information. 3 pm
Since Election Day is only a few days away, it’s a great idea to drop off your ballot rather than mail it. Find your clerk! Go to Ballotpower.org or the Michigan Secretary of State’s office website to locate your clerk’s office.
The next battleground in the war between Republicans and Democrats for control of the electoral map is absentee voting. As increasing numbers of voters eligible to vote by mail, the pressures created on officials by this expanded process can lead to increasing numbers of ballots rejected.
A foundation of a functioning democracy is an informed, engaged public. Organizations such as the ACLU and Common Cause invite us to support their work to protect freedom of the press. Organizations such as ProtectPressFreedom.org – a coalition of journalists and press advocacy groups, in partnership with a wide range of major media organizations – encourages us to use social media to acknowledge threats, show support of the press and highlight great reporting. Journalists are there as representatives of the public, and if law enforcement is attacking them, they can’t do their job, and that hurts everybody.
It is urgent that Congress and the White House fully fund the United States Postal Service in the next stimulus bill. Private companies won’t deliver to certain remote areas — and, right now, the Postal Service is delivering lifesaving medications and food, supporting voting by mail-in primary states and helping other services necessary for our nation to continue to operate.
Researchers at Amfar (Foundation for Aids Research) and Emory University led a study that included several other institutions to track disproportionately black counties, i.e., where black people constituted more than 13% of the population, in four southern states. Among their findings is that underlying health conditions, such as heart disease and diabetes, are not the primary case of disparities.
Making voting by mail easier during the pandemic makes good sense from a democratic and public health perspective. But more fundamentally, it is constitutionally required. State legislatures MUST allow people to vote by mail during a pandemic or they will be effectively denying people their right to vote.
Despite Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s issuance of a formal legal opinion stating that the Michigan Capitol Commission has the authority to ban guns in the State Capitol, the Commission decided not to take a position on this issue at a May 11th meeting, and instead opted to create a new committee to examine it further.