It’s the Michigan Legislature’s lame duck session, and a lot is going on.
Susan Demas and Ken Sikkema joined us today to take a look at what our legislators have on their plate.
During this election year we heard a lot about a rigged election system, despite there being no evidence of widespread voter fraud. Yet, the Legislature is considering a package of bills on voter IDs to prevent voter fraud.
Michigan already has a voter ID law, Demas explained, but this would make it stricter and more in line with “other states who have taken efforts to, frankly, to make it more difficult to vote.”
“I understand that there are concerns about election fraud, but we only have four documented cases of voter fraud in the entire country this election, so there’s not a big problem here that needs to be solved.”
Democrats are saying the bill is more about voter disenfranchisement than preventing voter fraud.
Sikkema called the bill “unnecessary.”
“There’s very little documentation of voter fraud in Michigan,” he said. “Some legislator ... or some party activist dreamed this up and said, well, Michigan ought to do this, other states do it, but in my opinion they’re not necessary.”
In our full conversation above, Sikkema and Demas tell us more about what’s on the Legislature’s plate this session, including altering pension plans for teachers, revising the way some businesses receive tax incentives, and changes to retiree health care for city, township and county employees.
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