I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]
An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.
Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.
Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.
During the one and only debate between the two candidates for Secretary of State, Democrat Jocelyn Benson and Republican Ruth Johnson, a story that the Michigan Messenger broke more than two years ago was a hot issue of contention.
In September, 2008, the Messenger’s Eartha Melzer reported, based on direct statements from the chairman of the Macomb County Republican Party, that the GOP was planning to use foreclosure lists to challenge voters at the polls on the grounds that their address must be wrong because their home had been foreclosed on.
Using such lists is an illegal form of voter challenge because people can, in fact, live in a home that has been foreclosed upon for many months after the filing of the foreclosure notice. That prompted oversight by the U.S. Department of Justice and a lawsuit between the Democratic and Republican parties that resulted in a consent decree not to use such lists.
Benson, an election law expert at Wayne State University Law School, brought up the issue during her debate with Johnson, the Oakland County Clerk, on Tim Skubick’s Off the Record show.
The two tussled over foreclosures. Benson said she led the way to warn clerks and others that it is illegal to keep people from voting if their home is in foreclosure.
Johnson accused Benson of scaring people and denied that her office planned to stop those affected from voting.
“I called her office and I didn’t get a call back,” Benson said, adding that she did get a response from the Macomb County Clerk’s Office.
“When there are rumors of deception or fraud it’s the job of election officials and the secretary of state, in particular, to stand up and let voters know she’s on their side.”
Johnson said the rumors could have stopped people from voting and that’s wrong. Benson, she said, was helping to manipulate the situation.
“Whether you’re home is in foreclosure or not, your vote will count,” she said.
All the more reason for election officials to make absolutely clear before the election, as many other county clerks did, that those who have had their homes foreclosed should still come to the polls to vote.
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