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 […]

We’ve known this day was coming for a long time but now it is upon us. Republicans in the Michigan state senate are poised to take up three voter suppression bills tomorrow, June 16th, and urgent action is needed. As one state senator I spoke with put it, “We need to flood the Republican phone lines.” The bills are Senate […]

With outsiders trying to politicize election administration in the United States, it is time to enshrine voter protections and access to the ballot box nationwide. The constant drumbeat of election conspiracies, prompted by the former President and perpetuated by radical Republicans has resulted in suppressive legislation being introduced in 47 states across the country.  Some of these laws have even […]

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 […]

And here’s the plan Democrats must embrace to stop them Even if no one dies from the GOP unnecessarily sending Wisconsinites to the polls on Tuesday, it was still a crime against humanity. It was a crime that targeted not only the black and poor voters likely to vote Democratic and the poll workers risking their lives but also, to […]

The following post was written by Ingham County Clerk and former state legislator Barb Byrum. Enjoy. You may have first learned of the Trump Administration’s request for voter information from Susan Demas’ blog post. You have probably since learned that many states are denying the request either completely or partially. Michigan’s Secretary of State Ruth Johnson stated that her Office […]

It is a sad irony that as we celebrate our ancestors’ independence from taxation without representation, our state and national leaders are working to impose the very same tyranny on us, the current citizens of the United States of America. President Trump has convened the Orwellian-named “Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity,” ostensibly to investigate voter fraud, which every legitimate […]

What started out as a typical lame duck session where legislative Republicans ram through scads of laws aimed at harming workers, restricting voting access, and benefitting corporations has started to calm down in the waning three days of the current session in Michigan. After backing down from diminishing the retirement benefits of first responders and teachers, it appears that other […]

I saw a tweet by my pal Roscoe Woods, the president of the largest American Postal Workers Union local in the state of Michigan that made my head spin. Here’s the tweet: MI AG says no evidence of voter fraud in 2016 election, Applauds decision to stop recount. MI House attacks our democracy anyway. #resist — Roscoe (@bluelapeer) December 8, […]

The worst of the worst during Michigan’s lame duck – or as I like to call it: inflamed duck – sessions and this year is no exception. Last night, House Republicans rammed through two particularly heinous packages bills. The first is one I have talked about before HERE and HERE. This three-bill package – House Bills 6066, 6067, and 6068 […]

This past week I wrote about a package of voter suppression bills currently being blasted through the state legislature (HERE and HERE.) They are House Bills 6066, 6067, and 6068. Here’s a piece of what I wrote on Friday: First, we have the voter suppression effort that I wrote about on Wednesday. This legislation does away with the option to […]