LANSING – The House approved a pair of bills on Thursday that will allow residents to register to vote online.
The House approved House bills 4539 and 4540 mostly along party liens with a vote of at 68-36 apiece. House Democrats continue to eliminate barriers to voting and make it easier for residents to both register and to vote and discharge their duty as U.S. citizen, but those bills continue to be stalled it the Republican-controlled Senate. Bills passed in the House and stalled in the Senate so far to make it easier to vote include no reason absentee voting, early voting and allowing 16-year-olds to pre-register to vote.
Rep. Kim Meltzer, R-Clinton Township, has been the point person in the House fighting any attempt to increase voter turnout and make it easier to register and to vote, and she trotted out her standard GOP boogieman: ACORN. She told subscription only Gongeer, “groups like ACORN could submit fraudulent voter registrations.”
Macomb County Clerk and former Democratic Secretary of State Candidate Carmella Sabaugh and Rep. Lesia Liss, D-Warren, launched a website to show how the process would work if the bills are approved.
The site asks for citizenship status, whether the applicant will be 18 at the election and an email address. It also provides an explanation of the rules for registering online. A succeeding page asks for the personal information needed to complete the registration. To alleviate Meltzer’s baseless fears, you must vote in person in the first election after you register with, of course, a photo ID card.
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