Republicans Blow Last Chance to Expand Absentee Voting for 2008 Election Yesterday a historic opportunity to make this year’s voting process more efficient was lost. The efforts of Sen. Liz Brater (D-Ann Arbor) and Sen. Gilda Z. Jacobs (D-Huntington Woods) and their fellow Senate Democrats to achieve a full vote on no reason absentee voting legislation were shut down by the Senate Republican Majority, who delayed addressing the issue until after the election. This is a significant election and record turnout is anticipated. The lines will be long. Many of us may get stuck at work, stuck in traffic, or have an unexpected family emergency to deal with. Many of us have families we want to get home to, or errands we need to run before stores close. Some of us want extra time to look over our ballots and research the issues before we cast our final votes. Removing restrictions on absentee voting would have allowed all of us to mail in our ballots and avoid the lines, making the voting process more efficient for voters and polling site volunteers alike. The House passed their no reason absentee legislation, HB 4048, last week. The Senate version of the bill, SB 12, has been collecting dust in the Campaign & Election Oversight Committee since its introduction in January 2007. Yesterday, Sens. Brater, Jacobs and their colleagues made one last push to act on the public’s behalf and pass these bills. Senate Republican leaders had a chance to move this legislation before the election, and they chose not to. Below are Senators Brater and Jacobs’ no vote explanations on the Republicans’ motion to pass the item for the day.
October 03, 2008 by
Posted in Elections, Voting Rights
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