Showing 5 posts in News.
Whitmer Signs Bipartisan Election Bills Ahead of Mid-Terms
With mid-term elections right around the corner, on Friday October 7, Governor Whitmer signed a package of bills which includes a handful of changes to how clerks process ballots, including those coming from our military serving overseas. Read More ›
Categories: Alerts and Updates, Campaign Finance (MCFA), Legislative Updates, News
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Political Spam: You Can’t Unsubscribe
Anyone with an email address or cell phone is painfully familiar with spam messages, unsolicited e-mails, phone calls, and text messages, clogging our already crowded inboxes and resulting in constant notifications to our phones. While commercial spam tries to entice us to buy something year-round, every two years, voters must also suffer through an uptick of political advertisements during election season. Candidates are increasingly reliant on free mediums (such as email or social media advertising) and low-cost mediums (such as phone calls and text messages) to get their message across to voters and potential donors. As a result, voters are inundated with spam messages they cannot opt-out of or avoid, and Congress is likely powerless to stop it. Read More ›
Categories: Alerts and Updates, Candidates and Committees, News
Michigan Supreme Court Dismisses Lawsuit Regarding Newly Drawn Districts
On February 3, in a narrow 4-3 decision, the Michigan Supreme Court dismissed a challenge to the newly drawn legislative districts approved by the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission (MICRC) late last year. The lawsuit was brought by the Detroit Caucus and alleged that the districts surrounding Detroit violated the federal Voting Rights Act by disenfranchising Black voters. Read More ›
Categories: Campaign Finance (MCFA), Candidates and Committees, Compliance, News
Sixth Circuit Rejects Michigan Lawmakers’ Challenge to State’s Term Limits Law
On November 17, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit rejected a constitutional challenge brought forward by a bipartisan group of Michigan state legislators arguing that their state’s term limits violate their constitutional rights. Read More ›
Categories: 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, Alerts and Updates, Candidates and Committees, Legislative Updates, News
Michigan House Passes Election Law Reforms Addressing Reportable Conditions, Precinct Sizes, and AV Counting Boards
The Michigan House of Representatives has introduced and passed, with wide bipartisan support, a number of election reform bills. The bulk of the bills are in response to a 2019 report issued by the Michigan Office of the Auditor General (“OAG Report”). The OAG Report identified three “reportable conditions” and one “material condition”; House Bills 4127-31 attempt to correct the reportable conditions (the material condition is an internal access issue and is being resolved administratively). Separately, the House passed HB 4134 to increase the size of precincts and HB 4135 to amend the rules for absent voter counting boards. Read More ›
Categories: Alerts and Updates, Legislative Updates, News