Gov. Whitmer veto 4 election bills, citing ‘big lie’

Governor Gretchen Whitmer vetoed four bills impacting Michigan’s election at the NAACP Freedom Fund dinner on October 3.

Surrounded by Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Whitmer signed a letter vetoing the Four Measures.

“I will always protect our civil rights and defend our democracy that countless Americans have fought to preserve,” Whitmer said in a press release. Michiganders to vote.

Whitmer said in the press release that Michigan Republicans are part of a “coordinated national attack on voting rights that seeks to undermine confidence in our electoral system and systematically deprive black voters, communities of color, older voters and students “.

NAACP Detroit President Reverend Wendell Anthony, also in attendance, welcomed Whitmer’s decision to veto the measures.

“The governor has demonstrated once again that she is the governor of the people,” Anthony said in the press release. “She’s still ‘Big Gretch’ and has the pen to prove it!”

The bills Whitmer vetoed were several changes to Michigan’s electoral process.

HB 4492 reportedly changed the process for establishing local polling stations, making them “more difficult to locate,” Whitmer said. The measure would have allowed municipalities to establish polling stations in retirement homes and large apartment complexes under certain circumstances.

Whitmer said that HB 4837 “incorrectly implies that third parties have access to the register of qualified voters”, which they do not – the register of qualified voters is “the official record for the conduct of all elections held in this State, “according to its establishment law.

HB 4838 would ban voting machines from being connected to the Internet after voting begins on Election Day, a practice which Whitmer says “fixes a non-existent problem” because “the voting books are not currently connected to the Internet on polling day and until the results were compiled for this forum.

Finally, Whitmer vetoed HB 4528, which would have changed the training requirements for election candidates. Whitmer noted that while this measure “deserves further consideration, it must have the necessary funding to achieve its goal” and that this bill has not addressed this aspect.

Each of these bills passed the House with about 20 votes from Democrats, in addition to almost unanimous support from Republicans.

The Michigan Republican Party, or MIGOP, issued a statement early Monday morning condemning Whitmer’s vetoes on the bills, saying the measures were “aimed at protecting our democracy by making our elections more secure.”

“It is clear that Gretchen Whitmer is not interested in protecting democracy,” MIGOP communications director Gustavo Portela said in a statement. “She’s more interested in fame and pimping than in strengthening our election security. That will change when we take her down next year and elect a new Republican governor.”

Representative Ann Bollin of the Township of R-Brighton, chair of the House Elections and Ethics Committee, also responded to the vetoes in a statement.

“Governor Whitmer is in politics again!” Said Bollin. “She vetoed bills her Democratic House members supported as common sense electoral reforms.”

“Once again, Governor Whitmer takes a cheap and easy photo in front of a captive audience tonight in Detroit,” Bollin wrote in a Facebook post. ” Even the [Secretary of State] was neutral and did not formally oppose these bills. These bills were passed in the House months ago – some with almost unanimous support. “

The legitimacy of the 2020 election has long been contested, often by Republican politicians across the country, prompting Democrats to respond. Last month Benson appeared at an Ingham County event and said there were bills proposed to the legislature that would “facilitate the annulment of an election, interfere with the counting of elections, and even facilitate the threat of election administrators in the future.”