The Senate Elections and Ethics Committee held its first hearing on a package of bills implementing the elections reforms within Proposal 2 of 2022. Since a majority of Michigan voters approved the changes, it’s now up to the legislature to pass legislation implementing the proposal.
Key Points:
- Implements nine consecutive days of early voting for statewide elections.
- Establishes sentencing guidelines for certain early voting violations.
- Creates a single application for voters to automatically receive absentee voter ballots for all future elections.
- Provides for prepaid return postage on certain election documents.
- Expands permissible options for photo identification.
- Requires each municipality to have at least one accessible absent voter ballot drop box for every 15,000 registered voters in the area.
- Increases the number of active registered voters in a single precinct from 2,999 to 5,000.
Next Steps:
The bills remain before the committee. According to the committee’s chairman, Senator Jeremy Moss (D-Southfield), a vote is expected soon.
