The following guest post was written by Barb Byrum. Barb is currently the Ingham County Clerk and is a former State Representative who served three terms in Michigan House of Representatives from 2007-2012. She is currently running for re-election to serve a second term as the Clerk of Ingham County. Byrum grew up in Onondaga, Michigan, a small rural town […]

Hallelujha! In a surprising move, a federal judge in Detroit struck down a Republican law that bans having the option of voting a straight partisan ballot in Michigan. It’s a move sure to give Republicans a very powerful case of indigestion since the move was largely aimed at taking control of the last areas where they do not have control: […]

I recently wrote about Michigan Republicans’ ulterior motive when they eliminated the ability to vote a straight ticket ballot with one mark. Although they laughably claim it is intended to force Michigan voters to do more research, the actual reason is very politically-motivated: People like me frequently say that “Republicans control every aspect of government in Michigan”. However, that’s not […]

After over ten hours of behind the scenes negotiations among their caucus members, all but two Senate Republicans voted last evening to ban straight-ticket voting on Michigan ballots. The bill had been tie-barred to far-less-than-perfect legislation to permit “no reason” absentee voting. However, the tie-bar was removed before passage by the Senate and then sent back to the House where, […]

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 […]

Today a Republican-led House Elections Committee voted to eliminate the ability for people in Michigan to cast one vote for all of the candidates in a given political party with one vote. These “get big government out of my life” conservatives are only against rules and regulations when they aren’t benefiting them and they know that creating long waits, longer […]

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 […]

This past Wednesday during a Senate Education Committee hearing, Committee Vice Chair Marty Knollenberg (R-Troy) was discussing why some schools “fail”. During the course his comments, he made a statement that has dropped jaws across the country. “You mentioned why these schools fail,” he said. “You mention the economically disadvantaged and non-white population are contributors to that. And, you know, […]

After legislation to ban straight-ticket voting passed out of the Senate Elections Committee yesterday, the full Senate quickly took it up and passed it last evening. As I mentioned yesterday, voters in Michigan have already shot down the same ban in 2002 when a ballot referendum overturned a Republican law to stop straight-ticket voting. In my piece, I predicted that […]

This morning the Michigan Senate Elections Committee voted to advance a Republican-sponsored bill – S.B. 13 – that will eliminate straight-ticket voting in our state. If it becomes law, you will no longer have the convenience of simply pulling one lever, filling in one oval, or punching one chad to vote for all the candidates in your preferred party. The […]

Ya gotta admit, it’s terrific clickbait, though, right? Yesterday, the Washington Post ran a piece titled “Obama suggests requiring everyone to vote”. It was total clickbait that went nuts on Facebook. Other media outlets followed suit but it was the WashPo piece that went viral. And it’s pretty provocative, right? I mean, what sort of dictator would take away your […]