Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Battleground Michigan plans to send vote-by-mail applications to everyone

Michigan voting location

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson recommends voters cast absentee ballots in 2020, even if stay-at-home restrictions are lifted.

Elaine Cromie/Getty Images

All 7.7 million registered Michiganders will be sent absentee ballot applications ahead of both the August primary and November general election, one of the most aggressive moves yet to promote voting by mail in a major battleground state this year.

The mailings, promised Tuesday by Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, are certain to be challenged in court by Republicans. They will cite past legal rulings in the state against government officials proactively sending out such unsolicited applications.

The burgeoning dispute could be one of the most important over easier voting during the coronavirus pandemic. How it's settled will help decide the presidential election. Democrats are counting on boosted turnout as their key to Michigan's 16 electoral votes, while GOP opposition to expanded voting options could help President Trump carry the state a second time.


Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who remains high on the list of potential Joe Biden running mates, is keeping her stay-at-home order in place for at least the next two weeks except in two of the most rural regions in Michigan, which has the fourth highest number of Covid-19 deaths among the states at more than 4,900.

But no matter the pace of additional relaxation of the rules, and decline in cases, Benson said the public health threat will be significant enough for the rest of the year to make voting in person not recommended. Congressional, legislative and local partisan primaries are set for Aug. 4, and the Nov. 3 ballot will feature a hotly contested Senate race and four competitive House elections in addition to the presidential race.

Trump won the state four years ago by 11,000 votes, a margin of less than two-tenths of 1 percent, breaking a seven-election winning streak by the Democratic nominee. He and many in the GOP oppose expanded mail-in voting on the baseless rationale it creates widespread voter fraud.

The state and some local clerks were not sued when they sent out unsolicited absentee ballots to voters for local elections this month, when a statewide stay-at-home order was in place, but Benson says she expects her application mailings will get challenged.

Restrictions on gatherings and business openings may have been lifted by then. In addition, Republicans can point to a state Court of Appeals decision in 2008 that prevented the clerk of Macomb County, a bellwether Detroit suburb, from sending absentee ballot applications to every voter older than 60 on the grounds that state law does not explicitly grant "the power to mail unsolicited ballot applications to qualified voters."

Her response, Benson said, would be that the state's election laws don't prohibit it, either.

Michigan changed its rules only two years ago to allow absentee voting without providing an excuse, similar to the laws of 33 other states. The first test of the newly permissive system was the March 10 presidential primary, just before pandemic shutdowns began. Even so, 38 percent of the votes were cast by using the mail or drop boxes — up from 18 percent four years ago.

"The vast majority of voters across the political spectrum want the option to vote by mail," she said. "Mailing applications to all registered voters is one of the ways that we are ensuring Michigan's elections will continue to be safe, accurate and secure."

Read More

An oversized ballot box surrounded by people.

Young people worldwide form new parties to reshape politics—yet America’s two-party system blocks them.

Getty Images, J Studios

No Country for Young Politicians—and How To Fix That

In democracies around the world, young people have started new political parties whenever the establishment has sidelined their views or excluded them from policymaking. These parties have sometimes reinvigorated political competition, compelled established parties to take previously neglected issues seriously, or encouraged incumbent leaders to find better ways to include and reach out to young voters.

In Europe, a trio in their twenties started Volt in 2017 as a pan-European response to Brexit, and the party has managed to win seats in the European Parliament and in some national legislatures. In Germany, young people concerned about climate change created Klimaliste, a party committed to limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as per the Paris Agreement. Although the party hasn’t won seats at the federal level, they have managed to win some municipal elections. In Chile, leaders of the 2011 student protests, who then won seats as independent candidates, created political parties like Revolución Democrática and Convergencia Social to institutionalize their movements. In 2022, one of these former student leaders, Gabriel Boric, became the president of Chile at 36 years old.

Keep ReadingShow less
How To Fix Gerrymandering: A Fair-Share Rule for Congressional Redistricting

Demonstrators gather outside of The United States Supreme Court during an oral arguments in Gill v. Whitford to call for an end to partisan gerrymandering on October 3, 2017 in Washington, DC

Getty Images, Olivier Douliery

How To Fix Gerrymandering: A Fair-Share Rule for Congressional Redistricting

The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield, and government to gain ground. ~ Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Col. Edward Carrington, Paris, 27 May 1788

The Problem We Face

The U.S. House of Representatives was designed as the chamber of Congress most directly tethered to the people. Article I of the Constitution mandates that seats be apportioned among the states according to population and that members face election every two years—design features meant to keep representatives responsive to shifting public sentiment. Unlike the Senate, which prioritizes state sovereignty and representation, the House translates raw population counts into political voice: each House district is to contain roughly the same number of residents, ensuring that every citizen’s vote carries comparable weight. In principle, then, the House serves as the nation’s demographic mirror, channeling the diverse preferences of the electorate into lawmaking and acting as a safeguard against unresponsive or oligarchic governance.

Nationally, the mismatch between the overall popular vote and the partisan split in House seats is small, with less than a 1% tilt. But state-level results tell a different story. Take Connecticut: Democrats hold all five seats despite Republicans winning over 40% of the statewide vote. In Oklahoma, the inverse occurs—Republicans control every seat even though Democrats consistently earn around 40% of the vote.

Keep ReadingShow less
Once Again, Politicians Are Choosing Their Voters. It’s Time for Voters To Choose Back.
A pile of political buttons sitting on top of a table

Once Again, Politicians Are Choosing Their Voters. It’s Time for Voters To Choose Back.

Once again, politicians are trying to choose their voters to guarantee their own victories before the first ballot is cast.

In the latest round of redistricting wars, Texas Republicans are attempting a rare mid-decade redistricting to boost their advantage ahead of the 2026 midterms, and Democratic governors in California and New York are signaling they’re ready to “fight fire with fire” with their own partisan gerrymanders.

Keep ReadingShow less
Stolen Land, Stolen Votes: Native Americans Defending the VRA Protects Us All – and We Should Support Them

Wilson Deschine sits at the "be my voice" voter registration stand at the Navajo Nation annual rodeo, in Window Rock.

Getty Images, David Howells

Stolen Land, Stolen Votes: Native Americans Defending the VRA Protects Us All – and We Should Support Them

On July 24, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked a Circuit Court order in a far-reaching case that could affect the voting rights of all Americans. Native American tribes and individuals filed the case as part of their centuries-old fight for rights in their own land.

The underlying subject of the case confronts racial gerrymandering against America’s first inhabitants, where North Dakota’s 2021 redistricting reduced Native Americans’ chances of electing up to three state representatives to just one. The specific issue that the Supreme Court may consider, if it accepts hearing the case, is whether individuals and associations can seek justice under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). That is because the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, contradicting other courts, said that individuals do not have standing to bring Section 2 cases.

Keep ReadingShow less