Unlawful Voter Purging Challenged in Michigan
Newsletter Volume 3 Issue 3
September 22, 2008
MICHIGAN – In an effort to prevent thousands of eligible Michigan voters from being removed from the voter registration rolls before Election Day, several civil rights attorneys filed a federal lawsuit Thursday charging Michigan with engaging in illegal purge programs. The United States Student Association and the ACLU of Michigan are the plaintiffs in this case.
The attorneys--from Advancement Project, the American Civil Liberties Union ACLU of Michigan, and Pepper Hamilton LLP--filed the suit against Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land, Bureau of Elections Director Christopher Thomas, and Ypsilanti City Clerk Frances McMullan after repeated attempts to address the illegal purges have gone unanswered. In fact, Advancement Project’s numerous efforts to set up meetings with Thomas were repeatedly rejected.
Attorneys charge the state with conducting two illegal purge programs. Through one practice, the Michigan Department of State, which administers both driver’s licenses and voter registration records, immediately cancels the voter registrations of Michigan voters who obtain driver’s licenses in other states--instead of issuing confirmation of registration notices as required by federal law. Each year, the Department of State, according to its estimates, removes more than 280,000 voters from the rolls through this practice.
The lawsuit claims that the state is illegally purging voters through a second practice by nullifying the registrations of newly registered voters whenever their original voter identification cards are returned by the post office as undeliverable. In Detroit, alone, some 30,000 voters are removed from the rolls through this state law, which violates the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) of 1993. The NVRA permits voters to remain on the voter rolls for at least two federal elections after voter registration cards are returned.
Advancement Project, the ACLU, and Pepper Hamilton realize that Michigan’s purge practices have a detrimental impact on people of color and low-income communities as those communities move more often and are more likely to live in multi-family dwellings, increasing the likelihood that their mail will not be received. College students and young adults are also affected by such purge programs as they are also more transient and more likely to have driver’s licenses form different states, in addition to living in dorms and multi-family dwellings.
