September 15, 2020
MICHIGAN – Today, VoteSafe Michigan’s Joe Schwarz, a physician and former Republican congressman, released the following statement on the state Senate’s passage of Senate Bill 757. The legislation would allow a clerk in a city or township with a population of at least 25,000 to perform certain absent voter ballot preprocessing activities on the day before election day if notice had been given to the Secretary of State at least 40 days before election day.
“On behalf of the bipartisan VoteSafe Michigan coalition, I applaud the Senate for passing this necessary bill, which will allow more voters to have the confidence to vote safely during this pandemic. We urge the House to quickly consider and pass this measure,” said Schwarz.
Schwarz and Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson are leaders within VoteSafe Michigan, a bipartisan coalition announced in May.
VoteSafe Michigan is made up of voting experts, elected officials, health care professionals, and community leaders advocating for accessible, secure mail-in ballots and safe, in-person voting sites amid the COVID-19 pandemic. A full list of endorsers is available online.
The coalition is committed to raising awareness among residents of all their voting options allowed under the Michigan constitution. In 2018, voters overwhelmingly passed Proposal 3 which expanded voting options in Michigan to include automatic voter registration, same-day voter registration and no-excuse absentee voting.
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