Real goal of GOP petition drive is to make voting harder | Opinion – Detroit Free Press

Eric Schneidewind| Detroit Free Press

During my time as volunteer president of AARP in Michigan and nationally, I saw firsthand how passionate older Americans are about voting and preventing identity theft.

Thats why Im so concerned about the Michigan Republican Partys petition drive that would make it harder for all Michiganders to vote, and expose to increased threat of identity theft anyone choosing to vote by maila choice many older voters have found easy, secure and safe, especially in these days of the COVID pandemic.

When it comes to voting, Americans 65-74 years of age had the highest turnout rate in 2020, at 76% (compared to 51.4%for those 18-24), according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Older Americans also led in what the Census calls non-traditional voting absentee and early voting, often by drop box, with 77.7%of voters over age 65 voting non-traditionally, compared to 69.7% ofyounger voters.

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The Michigan Republican petition takes aim at senior voters when it endeavors tohinder voting by absentee ballot and drop boxes. The manipulative political consultants running this effort to change our election laws claim we need to make it harder to vote to increase election security, even though an extensive examination of the 2020 election by a committee led by state Sen.Edward McBroom (R-Vulcan)showed zero evidence of any widespread security issues in absentee or drop box voting (or any other part of our current election process).

The GOP plan would prevent local and state officials from sending absentee ballot applications to voters unless the voter explicitly requests an application. Instead of government making it easy and just sending all registered voters an application (as they do for driver licenses and the like), you would have to take an explicit action one thats easy to forget.

The GOP petition would also impose a new requirement when you send in your ballot. Right now, you sign it, and the local clerk carefully compares that signature to the one on file to prove you are indeed a registered voter.

The Republican plan, which will certainly be approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature and would not besubject to review by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer if the ballot petition signatures are certified, would force you to put on that application even more personal data driver license and Social Security numbers that could easily be stolen by identity theft professionals from mailboxes or clerks offices. Local clerks would then be required to waste hours on computers looking up those numbers on state databases.

On top of these efforts to undermine senior voting, the Republican proposal would make it harder for local clerks to offer secure the election drop boxesused by many seniors, who might want to avoid the mail for whatever reason, and to pay for extra election officials many communities rely on to speed lines and tally ballots on Election Day.

Today, if you wish, you can make a contribution to your local government for election equipment and to pay for additional staff, just as you can make contributions for bulletproof vests for local police, or special smoke vision goggles for firefighters In 2020, non-profit groups came together to make such donations so that it was easier to vote than ever. Butunder the GOP plan, such contributions to local governments would be banned if they were designed to make voting easier.

There is only one goal here: To make it harder for Michiganders to vote. These new requirements will fall heaviest on senior citizens. They are opposed by local clerks around the state.

In coming weeks, you may see someone with a petition saying they want to make voting more secure or to require ID for voting. We already have one of the strongest voter ID laws in the nation only about 11,400 persons in 2020 voted by signing an affidavit saying they had forgotten their ID and that they were indeed the properly registered voter on the voting rolls. Many were likely seniors, driven to the polls by friends or relatives, who just forgot their driver license. Not one was challenged.

But now you know the truth: The petition will really make it harder for the millions of Michiganders, including seniors, who voted absentee or with drop boxes to cast their ballots, without adding any ballot security to our process that already has been proven secure by legislative investigation.

When you see thosesignature collectors, tell them no thanks. Tell them you like to vote, that dont want to make it harder, andthat you dont want to expose yourself to identify theft. And tell your friends and relatives they shouldnt be supporting the GOP plan to make it harder for seniors and others to vote. You can learn more at http://www.votersnotpoliticians.com/freedom.

Eric Schneidewind is the former president of AARP Michigan.

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Real goal of GOP petition drive is to make voting harder | Opinion - Detroit Free Press