lisa lyons
Rep. Lisa Lyons, R-Alto, talks to reporters about her proposed changes to voter ID requirements on Nov. 30, 2016.
(Emily Lawler | MLive.com)
LANSING, MI - Most Michigan voters would have to present an ID card for their votes to count under legislation that popped up suddenly during Michigan's lame-duck session.
Currently voters who are registered but do not have a voter ID can fill out an affidavit attesting to their identity and then vote. House Bills 6066, 6067 and 6068, introduced Tuesday, would change that.
Under the bills a voter without ID would fill out a provisional ballot. That ballot would only be counted if the voter returned to their clerk's office within 10 days to show either a photo ID or present evidence they are either indigent and can't afford an ID or have a religious objection to having their photo taken.
"I can't emphasize how simple this is. If you want your vote to count, you must prove your identity," said Rep. Lisa Lyons, R-Alto, who sponsored the bills.
The bills also allow indigent voters to receive free birth certificates and IDs.
Lyons said the legislation's goal was two-fold.
"I want to make sure that we are setting policy that protects the integrity of our elections but we are also not setting up barriers," Lyons said.
But others say the bills will disenfranchise voters.
"The practical effect of these bills, we believe, will be to disenfranchise the vast majority of voters who either don't have ID or show up to the polls without it," said Merissa Kovach, a policy strategist with the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan.
"Instead of modernizing our elections or bringing Michigan in line with other states that with critically needed reforms like no-reason absentee voting, same-day registration, or early voting, the Michigan GOP is rushing to push voter suppression laws," said Lonnie Scott, executive director of progressive advocacy group Progress Michigan in a statement.
Kovach said that while we require IDs for things like the purchase of alcohol, that is a business transaction while voting is a constitutional right. Lyons countered that the right to bear arms was constitutional and required photo identification.
Nationally, there has been a wave of states requiring voter ID in recent years. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, the pace of laws requiring voters to present ID picked up starting in 2011. Lyons said Michigan's law was patterned after Indiana's, which had been vetted through the legal system.
"It should be easy to vote. It should not be easy to cheat," Lyons said.
The committee did not vote on the bills Wednesday but Lyons said she hoped to see the bills pass before the end of the year.