LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Senate on Thursday approved Sen. Ruth Johnson’s resolution urging the U.S. Congress and President Biden to oppose H.R. 1 and similar harmful election policy measures.
“H.R. 1 is a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist in Michigan, and it would strip away local control and jeopardize the integrity of our elections,” said Johnson, who served as Michigan secretary of state from 2011 until 2019. “When I was secretary of state, we were named one of the best states in the country at getting eligible people registered to vote, and in the last election we had a record turnout. H.R. 1 is an unnecessary and reckless federal overreach that would eliminate safeguards against cheating and erode the public’s confidence in our democracy.”
Senate Resolution 25 says H.R. 1 would, “enshrine into law many misguided election policies. H.R. 1 would impede the maintenance of accurate voter registration lists and the enforcement of sensible voter identification standards. Additionally, the legislation would greatly enable the practice of ballot harvesting, which is currently illegal in (Michigan).”
Johnson said H.R. 1 would override many important election protections, such as crosschecking new voters to ensure they aren’t voting twice and deterring fraud by removing from the voter lists citizens who have died or moved.
“This legislation strips the ability of states to require reasonable identification standards for voters,” Johnson said. “It also takes away important tools to ensure clean voter rolls by prohibiting the use of the interstate crosscheck system we currently use to identify individuals who may have moved to another state. H.R. 1 erodes the sanctity of state election processes designed to ensure citizens have the right to participate in elections that are safe, secure and fair.”
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