Republicans demand purge of Michigan's voter rolls before general election
The Republican National Committee is trying to get the Michigan voter rolls purged before November's general election, the non-partisan voting rights legal organization Democracy Docket revealed.
Posting a court filing on social media, the group explained that the RNC sued Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, claiming that Michigan was in violation of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 because its voting records aren't "clean and accurate."
"Michigan has failed to live up to the [law's] requirements," the allegations state. "At least 52 Michigan counties have more active registered voters than they have adult citizens who are over the age of 18. That number of voters is impossibly high."
The filing goes on to say that there are 23 counties that have active-voter registration rates that are higher than 90 percent of adults over the age of 18. It is greater than the national and statewide voter registration rate in recent elections. Thus, they believe, it must be inaccurate.
"This is not the first time Michigan has failed to abide by the N.V.R.A.'s requirements. In 2020, Michigan election officials were sued in this Court for violating the N.V.R.A.," it alleges.
The Brennan Center reported, "On July 6, 2020, the district court granted the defendants’ motions to dismiss the case. On May 27, 2021, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s judgment."
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Since a previous purge in 2020, the lawsuit argued that the rolls have "gotten exponentially worse."
Michigan requires a photo identification to vote, or residents need to sign an affidavit swearing that their vote is constitutional. Those are then checked against the records. "The election inspector will check the photo and name appearing on the identification to verify the voter's identity," the state's voting instructions say.
"GOP senators argued that Michigan’s photo ID law is insufficient due to the 2018 voting changes and noted that identification is required for many activities. They said voters previously were seen in person at least once, either when they registered to vote or when they voted for the first time, but now can register and vote by mail without showing ID," the Associated Press reported in June 2021.
Donald Trump's daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, was just moved into place co-chair of the RNC.