Detroit will remove citizenship box from ballot applications, defies Secretary of State Ruth Johnson

By David Eggert/Mlive.com

The city of Detroit plans to remove a citizenship question from ballot applications before the November election - another direct challenge to the Republican secretary of state's authority to require the check-off box.

"There's no mandate," Detroit Elections Director Daniel Baxter told MLive on Wednesday. "The governor vetoed that part of the bill. There's no legal requirement for electors to declare their citizenship when they go to vote. That's the bottom line."

Election workers will black out the box ordered by Secretary of State Ruth Johnson, he said.

Johnson spokeswoman Gisgie Gendreau said Johnson still expects local clerks to use the form prescribed by her. She said Detroit's elections bureau - at the request of the state elections bureau - agreed on Wednesday to hold off on covering up the citizenship box until a federal judge rules in a related lawsuit.

Baxter could not be reached for comment late Wednesday afternoon.

The state on Tuesday sent instructions to clerks noting that - consistent with an October 2011 communication - existing ballot applications without the citizenship question could only be used through the August primary but it should appear on all applications starting with the Nov. 6 election.

Detroit, the state's largest municipality to administer elections, has about 560,000 registered voters.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan and other groups sued last week to stop Johnson - the top elections official in the state - from requiring local clerks to ask the citizenship question.

It already is asked when people register to vote, and Johnson says she is just trying to give non-citizens who registered before 2008 - likely accidentally - one last chance to avoid breaking the law. She estimates up to 4,000 of Michigan's 1.7 million registered voters could be non-citizens, though that number has not been confirmed. (She blames the Obama administration for not giving her access to complete citizenship data).

Opponents say Johnson is trying to suppress votes, and they predict confusion as the polls.

"We have to face this issue, not ignore it, or we are doing a disservice to every legitimate voter in Michigan." - Ruth Johnson

In deciding not to ask the citizenship question, Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey is following similar movesannounced by Macomb County Clerk Carmella Sabaugh,Ingham County Clerk Mike Bryanton and the Washtenaw County Election Commission.
Republican Gov. Rick Snyder, in vetoing a bill in July that would have required voters to check a citizenship box, said he worried it could cause confusion especially for older residents who request absentee ballots. He later said he thought the bill asked too much of voters "at a point in life where you may not see as well, you may not follow through every detail as well ... or not understand that box fully."
He said he instead prefers having them sign a declaration on the applicationthat would be updated with language saying he or she is a U.S. citizen.
State Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer said Wednesday that Detroit is making the correct decision to defy the secretary of state.
"Adding the citizenship box is not authorized by law. It has caused tremendous confusion. The secretary of state herself has inconsistently applied it," he said, citing the August primary election, when Johnson had to send a clarifying directive to clerkstelling them voters did not have to answer the question to get a ballot.
Johnson has said she can put the citizenship box on ballot applications under her power to prescribe election forms.
"We have to face this issue, not ignore it, or we are doing a disservice to every legitimate voter in Michigan," she said last week.

Politics Come First for Ruth Johnson and Bill Schuette

by Gretchen Whitmer/Daily Kos

Here in Michigan, the offices of Attorney General and Secretary of State carry a significant responsibility.  Even more so than our other elected officials, we expect them to be fair, to be honest, and most importantly, to be impartial.  They perform some of the most significant functions of our government and must do so with the integrity that gives all of Michigan’s residents the confidence that they are standing up for what’s right.

Unfortunately, our current Attorney General Bill Schuette and Secretary of State Ruth Johnson have not only failed to live up to that ideal, but they have led the way in putting their political ideology ahead of doing the job they were elected to do.

It’s been well documented the lengths to which Ruth Johnson has gone to defy the law in order to achieve a political victory for her party.  Her insistence upon putting an unnecessary citizenship checkbox on the August election ballots, despite the fact that the Governor had vetoed the legislation to authorize her to do so, showed her priorities lie more with the far-right special interest groups that had been pushing for that legislation than they do with ensuring an equal and fair opportunity for every qualified voter to cast their ballot.

Yet even today, after lawsuits have been filed against her over her actions, she maintains that she will continue to insist upon the checkboxes for the November elections despite every election expert telling her it not only won’t help fight the non-existent election fraud she maintains she is battling, but it will only serve to disenfranchise legitimate and qualified voters.

The Traverse City Record-Eagle weighed in this morning and called Secretary Johnson’s move, “politics in its most unpure form,” adding that she is following a script being repeated by Republicans across the country: “make an inflated claim, do a little fear mongering, and, most importantly, change the subject.”

The Attorney General has been no better.  He has consistently used his position over the past 18 months as a pulpit to advance the Republican agenda.  From encouraging legislators to defy the U.S. Supreme Court and stall the implementation of the Affordable Care Act to filing lawsuits to stop women from gaining access to affordable contraception, he has acted far more like a party boss than he has our state’s top legal officer.

Political columnist Tim Skubick wrote over the weekend that Mr. Schuette’s blatant politicization of issues even has Governor Snyder upset, with the administration telling the Attorney General that, “You should be representing us not picking a fight.”

Most recently, Mr. Schuette steadfastly refused to investigate Republican Speaker of the House Jase Bolger and State Representative Roy Schmidt’s election fraud scandal, saying that he wasn’t going to get involved.  Fortunately, a grand jury is now picking up where he failed us and is ensuring that the case gets the thorough investigation it has deserved from day one.

We’ve elected both Republican and Democratic officials to the Attorney General and Secretary of State’s offices over the years, but there’s always been a trust that no matter what their political background was, they would serve the people of Michigan in the best manner possible.  Secretary Johnson and Attorney General Schuette, however, have broken that trust and shown where their priorities truly lie, and unfortunately, it isn’t with the people of Michigan.

Gretchen Whitmer
Michigan Senate Democratic Leader

Michigan Democrats decry ‘mass confusion’ during primary elections

By Eric W. Dolan/Raw Story

Michigan Democrats on Tuesday blasted Secretary of State Ruth Johnson, claiming she neglected her duties in administering Michigan’s primary elections.

“Ruth Johnson has completely fallen down on the job based on her performance in this primary election,” Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer said.

Johnson added a question to the February presidential primary election ballot requiring voters to affirm their U.S. citizenship. The state legislature later approved a bill that would have made the citizenship declaration a state law. But Republican Gov. Rick Snyder vetoed the legislation, saying it would confuse voters.

However, the question has remained on the ballots.

“The secretary has the authority to prescribe forms, including ballot application forms. She put that check box on the ballot application,” secretary of state spokesman Fred Woodhams told the Associated Press. “Up until a few years ago, the secretary of state wasn’t able to track citizenship. Maybe there was a language barrier, but some non-citizens were asked if they were ready to vote.”

The citizenship question has reportedly caused confusion at a number of polling places in Michigan, according to The Detroit News andDetroit Free Press. Both Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Project Vote said they had received numerous complaints of people being turned away from the polls for refusing to answer the question.

Just before noon, the secretary of state sent out a clarification to election officials, telling them not to enforce the citizenship declaration question. But Democrats said the clarification came too late for many voters.

“We also saw that her insistence in putting a citizenship checkbox on ballot applications — despite Governor Snyder’s veto — caused mass voter confusion,” Brewer said. “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.”

Michigan Democrats leader Brewer accused Republican Secretary of State Johnson of partisan mischief

By KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN

AP Political Writer

LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Michigan Democratic Chairman Mark Brewer says Republican Secretary of State Ruth Johnson is creating "partisan mischief" by putting President Barack Obama's name on the Feb. 28 presidential primary ballot. 

Michigan Democrats plan to nominate their candidate at a May 5 caucus, so votes for Obama in the primary won't count. The election will let Republicans pick their favorite.

Brewer told reporters Thursday that anyone who votes for Obama in the primary wouldn't be able to vote in the caucus under national and state party rules.

He plans to ask the state Democratic governing board to change to rules so voters won't be disenfranchised.

Under a new GOP-passed law, Obama's name can't be removed from the ballot.

A request for comment left Thursday with Johnson spokeswoman Gisgie Gendreau wasn't immediately returned.