Snyder vetoes controversial voter ID, registration bills

Lansing— Gov. Rick Snyder on Tuesday vetoed three election law bills pushed by Republican legislators seeking to require a ballot box affirmation of citizenship, restrict voter registration drives and require photo ID for obtaining an absentee ballot.

Snyder said he vetoed the absentee ballot bill, House Bill 5061, because it would not let an absentee ballot count if the person did not affirm their citizenship by the close of the polls on an Election Day.

"I am concerned (the bill) could create voter confusion among absentee voters," Snyder wrote in a veto letter to legislators.

The Republican governor's use of his veto pen won rare praise from Democrats, labor unions and other liberal special interest groups.

The Rev. Charles Williams II, who led a raucous protest against the bills during a House committee meeting in May, predicted more civility would come from Snyder's veto of the bills.

"I think it's a step toward removing the divisive nature of partisan politics in the state of Michigan," said Williams, pastor of King Solomon Baptist Church in Detroit and president of National Action Network.

Under Senate Bill 754, lawmakers wanted to require third-party groups like the League of Women Voters who have been registering people to vote for decades to get mandatory training by the Secretary of State's office or county election clerks.

But Snyder said the bill "may cause confusion with regard to voter registration efforts" and he vetoed the bill.

Susan Smith, president League of Women Voters of Michigan, said her group was "thrilled" by the governor's decision.

"The league is very pleased that the governor has listened to the League and other third-party organizations who register voters in understanding that it's extremely important that we offer opportunities for all citizens in our state to register to vote," Smith told The Detroit News.

Snyder signed 11 other bills with less controversial changes to election law, including new campaign finance reporting requirements and felony penalties for violators and new financial disclosure rules for newly established political parties.

Another bill Snyder signed prohibits using campaign funds to cover legal bills unrelated to a political campaign — a law inspired by former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick converting his re-election fund into a legal defense fund in the text messaging scandal.

But his veto of the voter ID bill drew disappointment from Republican House Speaker Jase Bolger, R-Marshall.

"It is not unreasonable to expect that people handling voter registrations should receive some basic training," Ari Adler, Bolger's spokesman, said in a statement. "People who believe they are registering to vote should have confidence in the process so they know their registrations are being handled properly. Antics by unscrupulous groups such as ACORN have proven that protecting the voter registration process is vital if we hope to preserve the integrity of ballots cast by every eligible voter."

Snyder also vetoed Senate Bill 803, which sought to require residents to check off a box on their ballot affirming they are, in fact, U.S. citizens.

"I appreciate the issue of ensuring that voters are properly qualified, including the requirement that they are U.S. citizens," Snyder wrote in a veto letter to legislators. "An alternative would be to simply include 'U.S. citizen' in the voter's opening declarative statement on the application."

The legislation was spawned, in part, by Secretary of State Ruth Johnson's office discovering a handful of non-U.S. citizens on the voter roles who were improperly registered to vote while legally obtaining driver's licenses.

"Eligible voters need to know that their votes count and will not be canceled out by others who are ineligible to vote," Adler said in a statement.

In the February presidential primary, Johnson implemented a policy requiring Michigan voters to affirm their citizenship at the polls. The legislation sought to codify Johnson's ballot box rule into law.

Johnson, a former Oakland County clerk, said Tuesday she will keep the policy in place despite the governor's veto of the bill. Johnson has cited reports of about a dozen non-citizens attempting to vote in Kent, Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties.

"The fact remains that the citizenship checkbox has prevented unqualified voters from casting ballots," Johnson said in a statement.

Both chambers of the Legislature would need a two-thirds majority to override Snyder's vetoes — an unlikely task in the House, where Republicans hold a 64-46 majority and would be unlikely to entice Democrats to vote for the bills.

State Rep. Barb Byrum, minority vice-chair on the Redistricting and Elections Committee, praised the Republican governor for vetoing "the most overreaching bills" in the 14-bill package.

"The three bills … were the most troublesome and egregious attacks on our constitutional rights as citizens to have easy access to the voting booth," Byrum, D-Onondaga, said Tuesday in a statement.

Zack Pohl, executive director of Progress Michigan, praised the governor while also taking a political jab at Snyder's "one tough nerd" slogan.

"Gov. Snyder deserves credit for finally doing something truly tough as governor, by standing up to the extreme forces in his own party who are committed to suppressing the vote this November," Pohl said in a statement. "It's refreshing to see a Republican governor do the right thing by opposing this unfair and undemocratic legislation."

clivengood@detnews.com

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