Last week, a record number of Michiganders voted in a truly historic and unprecedented election. Here in Oakland County, we saw over 75.52% voter turnout, just topping the previous high turnout of 72.5% in 2008. This was also a year that brought a record number of people choosing to vote via absentee ballot after voters passed Proposal 3 in 2018, allowing any voter to vote no-reason absentee for the first time.
A record number of you also stepped up to be a part of the process. While clerks typically struggle to find enough people to work as poll workers to help facilitate the elections, this year saw all our clerks with more than enough applicants to ensure that Election Day ran smoothly at the polls, and that all ballots were processed and tabulated safely, securely, and in a transparent fashion.
I want to give a huge thanks to our Secretary of State, all our clerks, poll workers, and election officials who put in months — if not years — worth of work in preparation for this election.
Find out more about our elections and what’s next in the sections below.
And join me this Friday for our regularly-scheduled virtual coffee hour, which takes place (almost) every week that the Senate is in session. These events now livestream simultaneously across our pages on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Tune in on YouTube this Friday at 1 p.m. here.
IN THIS EDITION
- How Michigan Executes a Fair, Transparent, and Secure Election
- Legislative Update
- COVID-19 Numbers Rising; Promising Vaccine News from Pfizer
Election 2020
How Michigan Executes a Fair, Transparent, and Secure Election; and what’s next
On Election Day, the state of Michigan saw over 3.2 million absentee ballots, accounting for more than half of all votes cast. Despite the increased surge of absentee ballots, our clerks rose to the occasion and 24 hours after polls closed, every vote had been counted. To create a more efficient process, the Michigan Legislature passed Senate Bills 756 and 757, which did the following:
- Allowed the clerk of a city or township with a population count of 40,000 or more to allow election inspectors appointed to an absent voter counting board to work in shifts.
- The clerk would have to provide written notice to the Secretary of State at least 40 days before election day.
- The SOS would have to post this notice on the SOS website. If election inspectors were authorized to work in shifts, there could not be a gap between shifts and absent voter ballots must never be left unattended.
- Added two new sections to the Election Law, giving clerks more guidance and allowing more flexibility in processing absentee ballots.
To vote in the state of Michigan, every voter is required to either turn in their absentee ballot by 8 p.m. on Election Day or be in line to vote at their polling place by that deadline. While our state law now allows clerks and poll workers to process absentee ballots (removing the inner secrecy sleeve and ballot from the outer envelope) the day before Election Day, no ballot can be counted until Election Day itself. Due to record turnout and absentee ballots, it was anticipated that it would take a few days for election workers to count each ballot securely, safely, and accurately.
While several claims have been made disputing the integrity of the election, Michigan’s election system is secure, transparent, and implemented with many steps along the way to ensure accuracy — including 100% paper ballots to ensure that we have a hard copy record of every vote cast.
The Secretary of State has addressed these claims and has provided a website to fact check each of these and provide you with accurate information.
Additionally, the Detroit News has an excellent summary on what’s next. Michigan has a robust process to certify election results, with numerous steps along the way to allow candidates or political parties to contest results or bring forward any legal challenges should there be legitimate concerns.
Key upcoming dates include:
Nov. 17th: Each county canvassing board is required by law to certify its results, including any adjustments or corrections, and submit them to the Secretary of State
Nov. 23rd: The State Board of Canvassers reviews all 83 counties’ vote totals and hears any complaints about the results.
Dec. 8th: The Constitution requests all states to certify their results by what’s commonly known as “safe harbor” day.
Dec. 14th: The Electoral College meets in the state Senate chambers to cast the state’s 16 Electoral College votes in favor of the state’s winning candidate for President of the United States. Michigan law prevents so-called “faithless electors” — or individuals who cast electoral votes of their own choosing against the will of the voters — and the state Senate recently adopted an amendment to a resolution ensuring that the state Senate would support the will of the voters accordingly.
Jan. 6, 2021: A joint session of Congress is held to certify the results of the election as cast by the Electoral College.
Jan. 20, 2021: The Constitution requires the next President be inaugurated at noon on January 20th.
Michiganders shattered turnout records, even amidst a pandemic, and we thank our clerks and the many election inspectors on both sides of the political aisle who worked tirelessly to ensure the smooth process and integrity of our election. For additional information on the security of our election, you can click here.
Legislative Update
Bills from the Michigan Joint Task Force on Jail and Pretrial Incarceration
This week, the legislature took up a package of bills that came out of the Michigan Joint Task Force on Jail and Pretrial Incarceration. Michigan’s jail population had tripled over the last 35 years, with most admissions for misdemeanors and low-level offenses. The task force was created to study how changes to state law could safely reduce jail populations, protect and support crime victims, and prioritize law enforcement and judicial resources for immediate threats to public safety.
The report created by this task force provided 18-data driven recommendations to enhance safety, protect citizen’s rights, help victims, and make Michigan’s justice system more effective and efficient. From these 18 recommendations, this package of bills was created. Since their introduction, there were some concerns raised by the Michigan Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence. In response to those concerns, many changes have been made, including:
- Adding language indicating that victim needs should be considered when crafting probation or parole conditions.
- Making domestic violence and stalking offenses ineligible for early discharge from probation.
- Reinstating lifetime probation terms for felony stalking and sex offenses.
These bills protect the rights of victims and allow law enforcement and judicial officers the necessary discretion to protect victims and public safety:
- Senate Bill 1046: expands law enforcement discretion to issue citations for most misdemeanors and implements a presumption of citation in lieu of arrest for the lowest-level misdemeanors.
- Senate Bill 1047: ensures summonses are used for most first-time failures to appear, allows defendants to come to court to resolve low-level warrants without being arrested, and requires timely pickup for people held on out-of-county warrants.
- Senate Bill 1048: creates a presumption of a sentence other than jail or probation for most misdemeanors and creates a presumption of probation for certain felonies.
- Senate Bill 1049: expands eligibility for deferred judgment of guilt to 24 and 25-year-olds under the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act (HYTA).
- Senate Bill 1050: reduces probation terms, tailors probation conditions to address risks and needs, and caps jail sanctions for technical probation violators.
- Senate Bill 1051: tailors parole conditions to address risks and needs.
- Senate Bill 1125: would require that local corrections officers receive training in crisis response and behavioral health training
These bills have advanced to third reading and are likely to have a vote from the full Senate this week.
The Senate also passed two other bills:
- Senate Bill 1185: The bill creates the “Pandemic Health Care Immunity Act”, which grants immunity to health care providers and entities providing services in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The liability protections apply retroactively after 3/9/20 and before 7/15/2020. This bill was voted out of the Senate with a roll call vote of 21-13. While I voted yes on a previous version of this bill, the current version stripped workers’ compensation provisions for frontline health care workers. For that reason, I voted no. It has since been referred to the House of Representatives for their consideration.
- Senate Bill 910: allows minors under the age of 16 to apply for a work permit remotely rather than in person. Prior to this bill, minors were required to have a physical copy of this permit; this bill allows for safer procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic. This bill was voted out of the Senate 34-0, and I voted yes. It has since been referred to the House of Representatives for their consideration.
COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations on the rise
Pfizer announces significant progress toward effective vaccine
While there is a lot happening in our nation right now, we are still in a pandemic. This weekend, Michigan saw a new high of 6,225 COVID-19 cases, setting the national high of 207,794 cases total. As of Monday, Nov. 9th, 7,640 Michiganders have lost their lives to this virus. This is a reminder that COVID not only hasn’t gone away, it’s getting worse. So please:
- #MaskUpMichigan
- Social distance
- Wash your hands frequently
- Stay home if you’re not feeling well
Additionally, MDHHS has recently released additional orders to help protect Michigan citizens.
>> If you have been in contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 or are experiencing symptoms yourself, find a testing site here.
On Monday, Pfizer announced that their vaccine trials have shown their vaccine to be ‘more than 90%’ effective. This is a huge breakthrough in our fight against this pandemic, and excellent news for our state as Pfizer’s Kalamazoo location has been instrumental in the development and manufacturing of this vaccine.
While this is welcome news, please know it will be some time until a vaccine is widely available for most people.
So please, continue to practice safe public health measures. We can see a light in the distance, but it’s on all of us to keep it up to protect ourselves, protect others, and get there together.