Why Would Whitmer Veto A Bill To Make Absentee Ballot Application Fraud A Felony?
Governor Whitmer just vetoed bills that would have made it a felony in Michigan to apply for multiple absentee ballots or fill out an application for others without their consent.
Why would she do that?
The Detroit News is reporting on House Bill 5881 and Senate Bill 977 which passed with bipartisan support 77-26 in the state House and 32-6 in the state Senate. These bills would have made it a felony to purposely send an absentee voter ballot application with another person’s name and personal information. You could only do so if given authorization by law to do so. These bills would also have made it a felony to submit an absentee voter ballot application with the intent to obtain multiple absentee ballots.
Whitmer stated that:
“These bills, however, would muddy the waters, and would likely confuse voters about what conduct is actually criminal...Because these bills would create confusion on the eve of an election, I am vetoing them.”
She went on to say:
“Any suggestion that the filing of a second absentee ballot application is criminal behavior creates needless confusion and fear-mongering around the absentee voting process...It is bad for voters and bad for our elections.
Is Governor Whitmer actually saying that she believes that Michigan residents are not smart enough to know that it would be illegal to acquire a ballot in someone else’s name and voting with it?
You really have to wonder why she thinks so lowly of Michigan residents.
State Representative Ann Bollin, R-Brighton, sponsored House bill 5881 started that these bills have:
“nothing to do with voters who fill out multiple applications or ballots for themselves...Not only would they have deterred fraud, these bills – which had broad bipartisan support, including testimony from the Secretary of State’s office – would have helped enhance voter confidence in our elections at a time when we have been inundated with noise about our elections, especially absentee or mail-in voting”
In a statement Rep. Bollin went on to say:
"The governor’s veto will undoubtedly hurt the public’s faith in our election system.”
Rep. Bollin, I believe that Governor Whitmer could care less about the public’s faith in our election system and only cares about the people she wants to win.
It is all about power and money.