“Republicans don’t want to go through the legislative process for their ridiculous far-right ideas because they know the governor is going to veto it.” State Senator Vincent Hughes told NPR. “So they are now in the process of changing the constitution.”
GOP-led hearings in the 2020 election revealed the absence of systematic voter fraud in Keystone State. However, Republican lawmakers sought to pass a sweeping state election reform that led to Wolf threatening a veto. They later took advantage of passing one part of that voting package – a strict voter ID requirement – through the constitutional amendment process. The amendment itself is more restrictive than in the original bill, according to NPR.
While a universal bill will allow for many ID options other than a driver’s license or state-issued ID card, Edit Only “valid government-issued proof of identification” or, if the voter has not cast a vote in person, “proof” of that identification will be allowed.
This isn’t the Republican Party’s first attempt in Pennsylvania to restrict voter access to the polls. The Republican-controlled legislature passed a similar law in 2012 that was eventually removed from state courts.
In Michigan, another state that has proven pivotal in both the 2016 and 2020 presidential contests, the Republican-controlled legislature faces a similar obstacle from Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who has vowed to veto a package of 39 essentially designed new bills. to restrict voting. rights in the state. Three of these laws recently passed by the Senate on a partisan vote would place stricter voter identity requirements on both in-person and absentee voting, which have risen amid the pandemic, according to to me Detroit Free Press.
With Republicans lacking a veto-blocking majority, Republicans are turning to a loophole in Michigan law that allows them to bypass the governor and even voters — who overwhelmingly approved a ballot in 2018 to expand absentee voting for no reason. To do this, Republicans Plan to pay the salaries of local officials in the county To carry out a broad campaign that will gather 340,047 voter signature (10% of the vote in the last governor’s election) to support ID requirements. Republicans can then override the ruling’s veto by passing the initiative by a majority vote in both houses.
The Republican Party’s voter suppression efforts have already drawn widespread opposition from the state’s business community and energized voting rights advocates.
“We are deeply concerned,” said Nancy Wang, executive director of the statewide Voters Not Politicians, Tell The Washington Post. Wang’s group led a successful effort several years ago to establish an independent Michigan redistricting commission.
“We are fully on the move, putting our field team back together to organize a grassroots organisation,” she said. “We expect they will be there with petitions saying this is for election security. But we will be there to educate voters to tell them what this is really about: vote suppression.”
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