The following essay was written by Dianne Byrum. Dianne is a former state Representative and state Senator and is currently a Michigan State University trustee and the Michigan Director for Defend Democracy Project. Over the summer, the January 6th Committee presented overwhelming evidence proving that Donald Trump and his extremist supporters in the Republican Party planned, promoted, and paid for […]

The following guest post was written by Michigan State Representative Mari Manoogian. Every day, it seems, we learn something new about investigations of the January 6th Committee and other investigations by various law enforcement agencies into the Big Lie. Former President Trump’s election lies and his supporters’ subsequent attacks on our democracy shocked all of us — and understanding the […]

Pre-registration for this FREE event is required. Click HERE to register. In his recent important essay “Can Democracy Survive Racism as a Strategy?“, Professor Ian Haney-López makes the case that the future of democracy in America lies in the future success of the Democratic Party. With Republicans showing daily that democracy is no longer a bedrock value for their party, […]

Upon leaving the Constitutional Convention, Ben Franklin is quoted as saying that the constitutional delegates had chosen for America “a Republic, if you can keep it.” This came years after the founding fathers sat down and declared their independence from the British monarchy. Our democratic republic was an experiment, which had never been tried before as a form of government. […]

Our political process was tested in 2020 in ways that it has never been tested before.  With the outbreak of COVID-19 nationwide, election administrators were forced to come up with creative ways to make sure voters could cast their ballots safely, while trying to avoid large gatherings at polling places, wherever possible. Election infrastructure and processes had to be updated […]

As news of Michigan’s Board of State Canvassers finally certifying Michigan’s 2020 election results sinks in, it’s worth drawing attention to the antics of hyper-partisan Board member Norman Shinkle in the process. While his Republican colleague Aaron Van Langevelde acted honorably, following Michigan’s law that requires the Board of State Canvassers to certify the election and voting YES to certify, […]

May Special Election to be a mail election as a result of COVID-19. Yesterday morning, the Office of Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson issued a news release that her office will mail an application for an absent voter ballot to all qualified registered voters who have a May Special Election.  Michigan Law requires that voters submit a written request […]

In what can only be described as some of the best news I have heard this year, particularly regarding Michigan, a three-judge federal panel declared many of Michigan’s Congressional, State House, and State Senate districts to be unconstitutional. Their decision (which you can read HERE) was unanimous: The “predominate purpose” of the redistricting plan approved by the GOP-led Legislature in […]

On Monday, Michigan Democrat David Knezek introduced Senate Bill 734. The bill contains a single sentence: The local financial stability and choice act, 2012 PA 436, MCL 141.1541 to 141.1575, is repealed. Wouldn’t it be beautiful if the entire anti-democratic failed experiment known as Michigan’s Emergency Manager law, a law and policy that has done so much harm to our […]

This week the Republicans in the Michigan House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 13, a bill that would eliminate the option of straight-ticket voting on Michigan ballots. While they claim it’s to make us all “more responsible” voters, the obvious intent is to make it just that more difficult to vote in Michigan. In fact, Progress Michigan recently showed how […]

Sen. Dave Robertson (R-Grand Blanc Township) is the chairman of the Senate Elections and Government Reform Committee. You would think that a man in that position would be working night and day to figure out how to make voting as easy as possible so that we would have more Michiganders participating in the democracy that is the bedrock of our […]