Voter Confusion, Late Ballots to Military Voters Mar Michigan’s Primary Election
LANSING – Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer issued the following statement today, calling out Secretary of State Ruth Johnson for neglecting her duties in administering Michigan’s elections while carrying out a baseless quest to root out phantom voter fraud.
“Ruth Johnson has completely fallen down on the job based on her performance in this primary election,” Brewer said. “First, her department and local election officials were taken to court by the U.S. Department of Justice for failing to get ballots out to military voters in sufficient time. Today we received many reports of voters from across the state being turned away for lack of identification. Clearly Ruth Johnson has failed to train her election officials to properly administer the state’s long-standing photo ID law, which allows voters to sign an affidavit if they do not have identification with them.
“We also saw that her insistence in putting a citizenship checkbox on ballot applications — despite Governor Snyder’s veto — caused mass voter confusion. That confusion was compounded by her office issuing a directive telling clerks not to issue ballots on Monday and then finally issuing the correct instruction today. That’s a recipe for disaster on Election Day.
“It’s time for Ruth Johnson to give up the ghost and focus on her job requirements: making sure Michigan’s elections run smoothly and every eligible voter that shows up to the polls is able to vote. Her pointless obsession with voter fraud is clearly affecting her performance as Secretary of State and Michigan’s elections as a result.”
The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press both reported on voter confusion during today’s primary election in Michigan.
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