Michigan was a national leader for voting rights in the ‘70s and ‘80s. But since then, our voting rights have slowly but surely been eroded.

So, in 2018, a number of organizations worked together to ask the voters what they wanted by getting Prop 3 put on the ballot.  The people spoke loudly as 80 out of 83 counties voted Yes to Prop 3, thereby making voting easier and more accessable in Michigan.

As a result, we Michiganders will be able to:

• Register to vote anytime up to and including the day of voting.

• Vote early by requesting an absentee ballot for no reason.

• Be automatically registered to vote when the Secretary of State’s office issues a driver’s license or state ID.

• Vote a straight party ticket if you wish to do so.

• Have all our state elections automatically audited to assure accuracy.

• Have an affirmative right to secrecy when you vote.

These same organizations (League of Women Voters, ACLU Michigan and Proactive) continue to work on making voting easier by requesting that our City, Township, and County Clerks increase voting hours, create several secure drop boxes around town to return ballots, have postage paid return envelopes for absentee ballots and create satellite voting stations to help support regular voting sites that are traditionally overcrowded.

You can let your local legislators and your city, township and county clerks know if you support these additional ideas or have other ideas that you think will help more Michiganders Vote.  So please participate in our democracy and make your voice heard.  It just got easier!

Cate Fering

Buchanan