Michigan secretary of state settles lawsuit and ends GOP's restrictions on college student voters
On Wednesday, Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson announced that she had reached a settlement in a lawsuit over two Republican-backed laws that restrict how college students can vote. One law, passed in 1999, required voters to register at the address on their driver's license, even if that address doesn't match their residence at school. The other law, from 2004, required those who register by mail or through a third-party voter registration drive to cast their first ballot in person instead of by absentee mail ballot.
These measures effectively required students, including those from Michigan, to either go to the effort of making otherwise unnecessary updates on their licenses or travel home on Election Day to vote. Students are also disproportionately likely to register through the mail or via campus registration drives. Plaintiffs had contended that Republican legislators were well aware of the problems these provisions would cause for student voters when they passed them.
Last year, voters elected Benson as the first Democrat to be Michigan's chief election officer in 24 years, and they also passed a constitutional amendment with provisions that include same-day registration and excuse-free absentee voting. Benson had contended that this amendment invalidated the GOP's restriction that requires voters to cast an in-person ballot if they registered by mail or registration drive. She also says she'll initiate a voter outreach campaign to educate student voters by clarifying that registering to vote will automatically update their driver's license address.
This settlement will put an end to a restrictive system promoted by former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, who passed the initial address-matching law in 1999 and then went on to win his 2000 congressional race by just 111 votes. Rogers' Lansing-based congressional district included Michigan State University, which at the time enrolled more than 43,000 students, 90 percent of whom were from Michigan, and his voter suppression law may have very well made the difference that year.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/6/7/1863351/-Michigan-secretary-of-state-settles-lawsuit-and-ends-GOP-s-restrictions-on-college-student-voters
= new reply since forum marked as read
