Michigan Republicans Blitz Legislature With 39 Suppression Bills

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Republican lawmakers in Michigan are moving to restrict voting rights in the state with a sweeping slate of 39 new voter suppression bills. On Wednesday, Republicans justified their proposals as necessary for ensuring election integrity, while Democrats called out their propagation of former President Donald Trump’s post-election lies and conspiracy mongering. There remains no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election in Michigan — or elsewhere — that would have changed the outcome of November’s election. In fact, Michigan just completed “its most comprehensive series of post-election audits in the state’s history” which confirmed the state’s victory for President Joe Biden. 

Among many harmful provisions, the bills would:

  • Impose new ID requirements for requesting absentee ballots,
  • Ban the secretary of state from making absentee ballot applications available online,
  • Ban clerks from providing prepaid return postage for absentee ballots,
  • Create new requirements for drop boxes, including prohibiting voters from using a drop box after 5 p.m. the day before Election Day and
  • Add new election-related felonies to the state’s criminal code

You can read a detailed list of the key changes included in the 39 bills on the Detroit Free Press.

And read each of the bills here: