Michigan voters beware: Secretary of State’s voter ID ruling inspires mistrust

Michigan Secretary of state Terri Lynn Land (photo: Michigan.gov)

A directive issued by Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land just nine months ago as part of the state’s new photo ID requirement could suppress voting in the November election, according to voting rights groups.

In the directive, “Special procedure if picture ID leaves voter’s identity in question,”Land authorizes poll workers to request additional forms of ID from voters who, in the poll workers’ opinion, do not resemble the photos on their driver’s licenses. It instructs poll workers to then issue those voters provisional ballots if questions are not resolved.

Provisional ballots, a relatively new election phenomenon, were created by the federal Help America Vote Act in 2002 to address the problem of people being turned away from the polls because their names don’t appear on the precinct voter list. If a poll worker decides a person doesn’t look like his ID, his provisional vote would be counted only if he proves his eligibility by bringing another form of ID to election officials within six days of the election.

Bradley Heard, attorney with the Advancement Project, a Washington, D.C.-based voting rights group, told Michigan Messenger that Land’s policy authorizing poll workers to require multiple IDs is unprecedented, gives too much discretion to poll workers and may result in overuse of provisional ballots, placing an unfair burden on voters and especially on poor and minority voters.

Heard said Land’s directive violates Michigan law, which allows provisional ballots to be used only when a voter’s name does not appear on the precinct list, and that the state should treat people who look different from their photos like those who have no ID at all — have them swear to their identity and then vote a regular ballot.

Land’s office has refused to meet with the Advancement Project, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or the Michigan Election Reform Alliance about this and other voting issues, and a spokeswoman for the Michigan secretary of state’s office, Kelly Chesney, told Michigan Messenger that a planned meeting was canceled because the office feared legal action by the groups.

Chesney said that Land’s photo ID directive is authorized under the Help America Vote Act, which says voters may also be given provisional ballots if “an election official asserts that the individual is not eligible to vote.”

Heard, whose organization is working with secretaries of state across the country on voting issues, said that Michigan is unique in the lack of transparency in the secretary of state’s office.

Land’s record on minority voting rights does not inspire confidence

Land’s refusal to meet is inspiring uneasiness among those who believe that election administration practices that disadvantage minority, poor and Democratic voters in this swing state could be critical in the upcoming election.

In 2004, while Land served as Michigan co-chair of the Bush/Cheney reelection campaign, her office directed poll workers not to count provisional ballots cast by eligible voters in the wrong precinct. A federal judge issued an injunction against her rule on the grounds that it would harm Democrats and minority voters.

Last year the U.S. Justice Department blocked Land from closing a secretary of state branch office near Saginaw in Buena Vista Township, a minority district protected by the Voting Rights Act, writing that the plan would make it harder for blacks and Latinos to register to vote.

Altogether Land has closed 20 branch offices, and though Chesney said the closures are part of a plan to streamline and improve services, some argue that the closures have been motivated by political retaliation, rather than budget constraints.

Jan BenDor, a Michigan accredited election administrator and spokeswoman for the Michigan Election Reform Alliance Election, told Michigan Messenger that Land’s office has failed to instruct state unemployment and welfare agencies to offer voter registration help, as required by federal law.

Provision ballots expected to cause trouble in November

Legal scholars argue that resolving questions about the use of provisional ballots should be a priority because the 2008 presidential election could be determined by counting provisional ballots.

The New Mexico Democratic primary was determined by a count of the provisional ballots, and election law experts Edward Foley and Tova Andrea Wang write:

… There is no question that New Mexico or another swing state could find itself in a similar predicament come November: a close race in which the presidency will all come down to the counting of provisional ballots. … As November approaches, it is up to the states and the parties to act immediately to ensure that a close election does not once again end up in chaos and litigation.

With the Nov. 4 election just nine weeks away, voting rights groups say Land’s photo ID policy is among the issues that must be addressed to avoid the risk of chaos.