According to an email from FOIA Coordinator Sherri Hines, the Michigan Bureau of Elections ( BOE ) made a significant change in its disclosure of absentee ballot records last week. The BOE will no longer give specific crucial data fields that are necessary for election monitoring, as the missive, which was sent to businesses with standing requests for absent voter data, stated.
According to the BOE, a division of the Michigan Department of State,” Daily AV” ( absentee voter ) reports, which contained information on absentee ballot requests sent and received, as well as ballots returned by voters, will no longer be accessible in their current form under FOIA requests. Instead, studies are being replaced with information like those for “ballots cast before Election Day” and “issued but no returned” vote, which includes returned absent ballots and first election. ( FOIA Coordinator Sherri Hines, the email sender, did not return The Federalist’s inquiry about the message. )
Businesses like CheckMyVote. These numbers are rely on by Michigan Fair Elections and .org for their work on election dignity.
” I do n’t see the reasoning behind these changes. The BOE cites voting protection as the cause, but the time the application is sent and returned has nothing to do with voter protection, and these dates are no longer disclosed” for solid ballots, said Phani Mantravadi, CEO of Check My Ballot.
For vote cast,” We have no vote ID. No time when it’s mailed”, Mantravadi added. ” This is a great threat to chain of custody”.
This will affect all organizations that rely on this data for their work on election integrity, warned Marla Weber, a charity with the Soles to Rolls vote move hygiene program in Michigan Fair Elections. Participants assess their native voter rolls for errors and then can flag dying, moved, duplicate, noncitizen, unworkable, or ghost registrations for their native clerks, who are responsible for keeping the state’s Certified Voter File clear.
All Michigan citizens have access to Checkmyvote. and you check to see if registered voters who have passed away or who have been moved are still registered at their homes or local lists. Citizens can therefore contact their local staff of the mistakes.
” It is very difficult, almost impossible, to issue a voter move based on a brand or identity of the voter”, explained The Traditional Treehouse lately. ” But 1, 000 licenses to an empty parking lot, unoccupied office building, Wal Mart or post office box are easier to detect, problem and eventually remove”.
‘ What Are You Trying to Hide?’
The Republican Party of Michigan’s District 9 reacted strongly to the BOE’s announcement. The change, according to Phil O’Halloran, a practicing surgeon and the chair of District 9, is a significant blow to transparency.
” This is the digital equivalent of putting pizza boxes on the TCF Center’s windows. What are you trying to hide, Jocelyn”?
O’Halloran’s reference alludes to the 2020 election controversy in Detroit, where allegations of ballot mishandling and lack of transparency were hotly contested. The District 9 Republican Party was gearing up to launch a ballot tracking initiative using CheckMyVote when Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s sudden policy change occurred. org ‘s , technology in an effort to” tracking the numbers of absentee ballots to ensure they are being sent only to eligible voters.”
With the 2024 election only 32 days away, some activists view this change as a move to limit oversight. Without this information, organizations that monitor absentee ballots will struggle to ensure that only legitimate ballots are cast. The daily data on ballots returned by voters is crucial not only for election integrity but also for , get-out-the-vote , activities.
At Pure Integrity Michigan Elections, an updated version of this article was published.
Pure Integrity Michigan Elections and Michigan Fair Elections, two nonprofits that are dedicated to preserving and protecting fair and impartial elections, are led by Patrice Johnson.