So let’s all ask for absentee ballots next August and November

ACHTUNG: This is not a “fair and balanced” story. It is an editorial by the editor.

Anybody with an IQ above mineral life understands if you want people to do the right thing, you make it easy or convenient for them to do it. The people behind recycling have used this concept to increase participation, implementing curbside recycling to replace centers where people had to take their stuff.

So when our Confederacy of Dunces in the State Legislature tells the public the reason for eliminating straight-party voting because of a noble quest for choosing elected officials based on qualifications, it’s a bald-faced lie.

I’ve had issues with straight-party voting because it’s a lazy approach to a serious duty. As I often have lamented, “If A. Hitler Republican ran against J. Christ Democrat in these parts, A. Hitler would win.”

But simply eliminating the straight-party option does yet another thing to discourage voters from showing up at the polls. It makes the process more cumbersome, tedious and time consuming.

The 24 Michigan Senators who voted behind locked doors early Wednesday morning are no more interested in getting more people to vote intelligently than they are in permitting same-sex marriages. They want to keep the poor, working people, the riff-raff out of the voting process.

Michigan voters twice have rejected ballot proposals to eliminate straight-party voting. The state-wide network of clerks who serve local municipalities has overwhelmingly opposed this naked power grab because it creates longer lines at the polls.

The Michigan House had the good sense at least to pass a bill to allow people to request and obtain absentee ballots without having to provide excuses. But the Senate subsequently tossed that provision in the trash can.

State Senator Margaret O’Brien explained to Channel 3 that getting rid of the straight-party option and insisting voters choose in every contest would force voters to elect candidates who are qualified. I suspect our State Senator, Tonya Schuitmaker, would say the same, with a straight face. Neither is truthful about making voting more difficult.

I suppose they say Michigan is one of only 10 states that has permitted straight-ticket voting in one stroke. This is true and I agree that straight-party voting enables lazy voting at the polls, but I think easier access to absentee voting should have been kept in the bill.

Even the normally non-partisan League of Women voters trashed this bill, arguing:

• It leads to longer lines at the polls, which disenfranchises voters – according to the Michigan Association of Municipal Clerks, Michigan ranks sixth in the nation for longest wait in line.
• It leads to incomplete voting – the Citizen’s Research Council reports that, “A single voter is asked in an election cycle to vote on between 54 and 150 officials of state government and the judiciary and from 23 to 37 local government officials.”
• It increases the cost for elections because additional machines need to be purchased and more staff is required.

“The League of Women Voters supports election laws that make voting accessible and convenient for all citizens to participate.”

The bill now needs the signature of Gov. Rick Snyder to become law. Don’t hold your breath on a veto.

I’ve had enough of this cynical attempt to once again rig the system. It’s time for the common ever-day voters of this state to rise up in righteous indignation. I urge everyone to go to their local clerk and ask for an absentee ballot. Go ahead and lie if you really don’t have a reason not to physically be present at the polls. After all, they’re lying to us again.