State Rep. Ann Bollin, Chair Of The House Elections And Ethics...

On Friday, February 5th I interviewed State Michigan State Representative Ann Bollin. Rep. Bollin is the Chair of the House Elections and Ethics. Ann worked for 16 years as a local township clerk. In that role, she informed us that she worked relentlessly to ensure she ran clean elections. Reo. Bollin states that she wants every eligible voter can vote freely, secretly, independently and securely and fixing the problems exposed by this past election cycle.

I wanted to find out what the Republicans in Michigan's House were doing to attempt to bring integrity back to our election system here in Michigan. There was one piece of information I do not remember reporting on or heard reported. It had to do with sending out Absentee Ballot applications. Listen to the interview to find out what that was.

She stated that the House Republicans plan on tighten voting rules and the safety of Republican poll challengers and watchers after what occurred last November.

Here are some of the areas that I think need reform to restore the public’s confidence from the Michigan House Republicans:

Accurate voter rolls. We must make sure our election officials are doing a better job updating the Qualified Voter File and maintaining accurate voter rolls.

Same-day registration. This practice was added just recently after voters approved Proposal 3 of 2018. While the concept is widely supported, we always knew the implementation would take some work. We must focus on working out the flaws in this system and putting best practices into state law to ensure clarity and consistency for voters across the state.

Absent voter counting boards. The new focus on absentee voting has made counting boards more important than ever before. We must set clearer rules for how these boards operate and how we can ensure the process is transparent and election laws are followed.

Processing absentee ballots. We must closely examine how and when absentee ballots are pre-processed and counted, and what tools we can give our clerks to smooth out the process without risking the security of our elections or the sanctity of our votes.

Training for election workers and volunteers. Providing improved training standards for clerks, election workers, poll watchers and canvassers must be a priority, and could help prevent confrontations like those seen at the TCF Center this past election.