Michigan GOP-led House passes voter suppression bill and bill to punish labor protesters & unions
The worst of the worst during Michigan’s lame duck – or as I like to call it: inflamed duck – sessions and this year is no exception. Last night, House Republicans rammed through two particularly heinous packages bills.
The first is one I have talked about before HERE and HERE. This three-bill package – House Bills 6066, 6067, and 6068 – forces people to show a photo ID to vote. Currently, if you don’t have your ID with you (or simply don’t have one at all), you can sign an affidavit and your vote counts. Under this new legislation, you’d have to return to the Clerk’s office within 10 days of the election to prove your identity or your vote won’t count. In Michigan, this would have impacted 18,339 people.
Far too many people, including some in the progressive realm, think this is no big deal. “You have to show photo ID for lots of other stuff,” they say. “Why should this be any different?” The fact is, for 85% or more Michiganders, it’s NOT a big deal to get ID or to take time off in the middle of a work day to go back to the Clerk’s office if you forget their ID. But for a not-insignificant number of people, getting a photo ID is much harder than you might imagine. I encourage you to listen to our interview with Ari Berman on The Sit and Spin Room podcast for some examples of this.
And, for many folks, if they forgot their ID, it can be impossible to get to the Clerk’s office within in the 10-day window. People who work days along with elderly people and those with disabilities or other transportation issues are in this category. In Washtenaw County, for example, the local County Party gave rides to the polls to nearly 100 people who couldn’t get there on their own. And those are just the people who knew about our service.
Read more: http://www.eclectablog.com/2016/12/lame-duck-alert-michigan-gop-led-house-passes-voter-suppression-bill-and-bill-to-punish-labor-protesters-unions.html
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