Rep. Matt Hall's Voting Integrity Ideas Advancing At The Capitol

Marshall Republican State Representative Matt Hall was chair of the state Elections and Ethics Committee in the last legislative session. Things got a little rough and tumble there for a while. Hall’s committee heard testimony from Michigan residents concerned about issues surrounding the November general election. That all included a request for Michigan’s Secretary of State to appear before the committee and accept valid questions about what happened and moving forward with certainty. Michigan’s top election official refused to meet with lawmakers over what many think is the most important issue facing Michigan and the rest of the nation.

Hall is now Chair of the State House Tax Policy Committee. But his work supporting ethics and transparency legislation covering Michigan elections is moving forward in the State House. The House Elections and Ethics Committee is approving a related piece of legislation authored by Hall, along with several other election reforms Hall was involved with for the full State House to review.

House Bill 4127 was written by Hall in order to remove names from the state’s qualified voter file where dates of birth are unknown. The legislation also requires age verification of a resident’s date of birth when voting.

Hall says testimony before his committee shows people over 120 years of age remained on voter rolls. That leaves a wide-open gap for fraud to occur. Hall says, “Verification helps establish trust in the process.” There are lots of claims that no related problems exist. Looking back to 2006, the issue existed even then. GocTech.com reports tens of thousands of names were pulled from the voter rolls at that time.