密歇根州兰辛——共和党人周一宣布了一项投票运动，以加强密歇根州的投票和选举法律，支持一项策略，该策略将允许共和党议员在没有州长格雷琴·惠特默签名的情况下实施这些变化。
这一举措已经发出数月之久，遭到了民主党人和投票权倡导者的谴责。这位民主党州长曾发誓要否决共和党控制的立法机构中悬而未决的类似法案。
由资深共和党人运营的“安全MI投票”将需要在开始分发请愿书的六个月内收集大约34万个有效的选民签名。
该倡议将强化选民提交照片身份证明的要求，取消让没有照片身份证明的人提交宣誓书并投票的选项。11月，近560万选民中有超过11400人这样做了。
取而代之的是，没有身份证的人将获得临时选票，并必须在选举后六天内核实他们的身份，以便计票。
该措施还将在缺席投票申请中增加身份证部分，要求选民提交驾照号码或社会保障号码的最后四位数字。去年11月，有近330万人投票缺席，创下纪录。目前通过邮件寻求缺席投票的选民必须在申请上签名，签名与选民档案相匹配。
该倡议还将禁止国务卿和当地办事员向没有申请的人发送申请，并设立一个300万美元的基金，以确保低收入居民拥有身份证。这笔资金还将使该措施在州法律下不受公投影响。
“安全MI投票”的发言人杰米·罗(Jamie Roe)表示，“所有政治派别”的选民都质疑2016年和2020年选举结果的完整性。
他在一份声明中说:“这一举措的成功将使投票更容易，作弊更难，并恢复共和党、民主党和无党派人士对选举制度的信心。
密歇根州民主党和其他团体指责共和党试图混淆选民，并通过投票活动延续特朗普的谎言。
“他们希望投票的人更少，因为他们刚刚发现了我们一直都知道的事情，当人们投票时，民主党人获胜。这就是这次投票提案的全部内容，为投票制造了障碍，因此能够参与投票的人就更少了，”主席拉沃拉·巴恩斯说。
她指出，2018年密歇根州三分之二的选民通过了一项宪法修正案，扩大了投票选择。
乔·拜登以大约15.5万张选票，即2.8个百分点赢得了这个战场州，但前总统特朗普错误地指控存在广泛的欺诈行为。他自己的司法部长在密歇根州或其他州没有发现这方面的证据。特朗普的指控也被法官驳回，并被州选举官员、他自己政府国土安全部的一个部门以及密歇根州参议院的共和党人驳斥。
共和党的几个州今年收紧了投票法，其他州正在就此展开辩论。如果该法案获得通过，密歇根州的改革将在2024年选举中实施，但不会在2022年中期选举中实施，因为民主党议员将拒绝让这些法案立即生效。
GOP launches ballot drive to tighten Michigan voting laws
LANSING, Mich. -- Republicans on Monday announced a ballot drive to tighten Michigan's voting andelectionlaws, backing a maneuver that would let GOP lawmakers enact the changes without Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's signature.
The step, which had been signaled for months, was decried by Democrats and voting-rights advocates. The Democratic governor had vowed to veto similar bills pending in the GOP-controlled Legislature.
Secure MI Vote, which is being run by veteran GOP operatives, will need to collect roughly 340,000 valid voter signatures within six months of starting to circulate petitions.
The initiative would toughen a requirement that voters submit photo identification, eliminating an option that lets those without one submit an affidavit and vote. More than 11,400 of nearly 5.6 million voters did that in November.
Instead, people with no ID would get a provisional ballot and have to verify their identity within six days after the election for it to count.
The measure also would add an ID component to absentee ballot applications, requiring that voters submit their driver's license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number. Nearly 3.3 million people, a record, voted absentee last November. Voters currently seeking an absentee ballot by mail must sign the application, and the signature is matched to the voter file.
The initiative also would prohibit the secretary of state and local clerks from sending applications to people who did not request them and create a $3 million fund to ensure low-income residents have an ID. The funding also would make the measure referendum-proof under state law.
Jamie Roe, spokesman for Secure MI Vote, said voters “across the political spectrum” questioned the integrity of the 2016 and 2020 election results.
“The success of this initiative will make it easier to vote, harder to cheat, and restore confidence in the electoral system for Republicans, Democrats and independents alike,” he said in a statement.
The Michigan Democratic Party and other groups accused the GOP of trying to confuse voters and perpetuating Trump’s lies with the ballot drive.
“They want fewer people to vote because they just discovered what we have always known, when people vote, Democrats win. That is what this ballot proposal is all about, creating barriers to voting so fewer people have access to the polls,” said chair Lavora Barnes.
She noted that two-thirds of Michigan voters in 2018 passed a constitutional amendment expanding voting options.
Joe Biden won the battleground state by about 155,000 votes, or 2.8 percentage points, but former President Trump has falsely alleged widespread fraud. His own attorney general found no evidence of it in Michigan or other states. Trump's allegations also have been dismissed by judges and refuted by state election officials, an arm of his own administration’s Homeland Security Department and Republicans in the Michigan Senate.
Several GOP states have tightened voting laws this year, and others are debating them. If enacted, the Michigan changes would be in place for the 2024 election but not the 2022 midterm because Democratic legislators would refuse to let them take effect immediately.
