LANSING, Mich. — Senate Elections Committee Chair Ruth Johnson, R-Holly, issued the following statement in response to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer vetoing election improvement and protection bills that were passed with firm, bipartisan support in the House and backed by nonpartisan groups during the legislative process:
“These were commonsense reforms to protect the integrity of our elections. All of the bills had bipartisan support. In fact, two of the bills passed the House of Representatives with votes of 106 to 3 and 105 to 4. I am deeply disappointed that the governor has chosen to play partisan games with these well-thought-out measures, which the Legislature worked on with our local clerks, numerous stakeholders and legislators from both parties.”
House Bills 4492, 4528, 4837 and 4838 would have allowed for additional polling place locations to be created at a limited list of specific private locations, required training for election challengers and increased training for election workers about the role of challengers; prohibited unapproved third parties from accessing the Qualified Voter File, and banned voting machines and the electronic pollbook from being connected to the internet during Election Day.
###
