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Michiganders are ready to fight back against attacks on our
voting rights
March 29, 2021: Despite a series of thorough audits showing that
the 2020 election was safe, fair, and accurate, Michigan
Republicans are working to undermine trust in our democracy and
make it more difficult for eligible voters to cast their
ballots. Progress Michigan strongly condemns the voter
suppression bills introduced by Republican lawmakers.
Despite rampant disinformation and a pandemic, Michigan voters
made use of the voting rights won under Proposal 3 and
turned out in record numbers last year to chart a new path
forward for our state.
“No matter how many bogus conspiracy theories right-wingers come
up with, all the evidence points to the fact that Michigan
elections are free, fair, and accurate. Our elected officials
should be working to build on that momentum and further expand
access to the ballot box but instead, they’re continuing their
efforts to undermine public trust in our elections and using
false claims of fraud as an excuse for blatant voter
suppression.
Michiganders have come together time and time again to support
our democracy, and we won’t stop fighting to ensure every
eligible voter can make their voice heard. Mike Shirkey
and his merry band of voter suppression supporting idiots may
have a majority of the Michigan legislature, but their efforts
don't have the support of the majority of Michiganders.”
Michiganders Are Done Waiting for FOIA Reform
Progress Michigan announces details of ballot initiative to
expand FOIA
This Sunshine Week, Progress Michigan is celebrating by
rolling out the details of an upcoming ballot initiative to
expand the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to cover the
legislature and governor’s office. According to a recent
poll, this measure is popular with Michiganders
across the political spectrum, with 74 percent of respondents
saying they support expanding FOIA while only 8 percent are
opposed.
This initiative comes after several unsuccessful attempts by the
legislature to create a second open records law called the
Legislative Open Records Act (LORA), which would subject the
legislature to a lesser standard of transparency than is
required by FOIA. LORA includes special carve-outs for the
legislature and governor’s office that don’t exist for any other
public body and requires that appeals of rejected records
requests go to a board appointed by the legislature instead of
allowing people to appeal in court.
Conversely, the ballot initiative proposed by Progress
Michigan would apply the full weight of FOIA to the
legislature and governor’s office.
The LORA bills proposed in the legislature are what you would
get if you ordered FOIA reform from Wish.com. The people of
Michigan have already waited far too long for real FOIA
reform—and we’re done waiting,
We don’t need more lip service to transparency from lawmakers
who aren’t willing to back their words up with actions, and we
don’t need half-measures like LORA that give the legislature
special treatment instead of holding them to the same standards
every other level of government is expected to follow. This
Sunshine Week, we’re looking forward to bringing some
much-needed transparency reform to Lansing and help create a
government that is truly accountable to the people.
For more information about the proposal, visit CloseLansingLoopholes.com
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