Noah Johnson Daily Press
Kent County Clerk Lisa Posthumus Lyons talks about the election process from a clerk’s perspective.
ESCANABA — Two organizations visited Escanaba to speak with citizens about the election process.
Keep Our Republic and Michiganders for Civic Resilience visited Escanaba as part of its “Northern Michigan Community Conversation Tour.” The two non-partisan organizations met with locals at the pavilion in Ludington Park for an informal discussion about elections and how they are secured.
Organizers and speakers included former Michigan House Democrat Leader Christine Greig and former Michigan Republican Senator and House Representative Tonya Schuitmaker, both representatives of Michiganders for Civic Resilience, along with Keep Our Republic representative Kasi Meyer, and Kent County Clerk Lisa Posthumus Lyons.
“Chris(tine) Greig and I are the co-directors of Michiganders for Civic Resilience, which really aims to help educate the public on having confidence in our upcoming election, mitigating any political violence and also bringing civil discourse back to our vernacular,” Schuitmaker said.
She said it is important for the people to see people from both sides of the political spectrum work together for a common goal.
“It’s really too bad that we are living in polarized times,” she said.
She said when she first ran for office in 2004 voter apathy was prominent as less than 50 percent of citizens were voting in elections at that time.
“Now, the good news is that we’re at probably (at) a record high of 70 percent in the next upcoming election of Americans voting which is a great thing to do. But with that also comes fervent passions,” Schuitmaker said.
She added that both organizations wanted to start their tours in the U.P. because it often gets overlooked.
“I think the U.P. (is) very receptive, very welcoming and I think it gets overlooked a lot. So, we wanted to make sure that the U.P. and Northern Michigan was a focal point of getting our message out,” she said.
Grieg said she hoped that guests would have a better understanding of just how secure elections are in the State of Michigan.
“The whole idea is to you know, really promote trust in elections because we really have a very safe and secure system. But a lot of people question that or have questions about it,” Grieg said.
She also touched on the polarization between voters, saying most voters are in the middle.
“People really aren’t as polarized as they think the whole country is,” she said.
She also wanted to clarify that there are not multiple voter rolls in the state.
“That’s really not a thing right now, we have one database in this state – the Qualified Voter File,” Grieg said.
She added that she understands that voters may be uneasy, but there are answers to those concerns.
“There are safeguards, and so we want people to know that the election processes are changing with the times as well, (but) we’re keeping up with it. But it’s up to all of us to do our own due diligence and make sure what we’re reading or what someone’s telling us is really true before anyone should act on it and before you share it out,” she said.
Kent County Clerk Lisa Posthumus Lyons spoke about how different elections are in Michigan, as opposed to other states.
“Our election process in Michigan is so unique, we’re very decentralized which I think lends itself to added security in our elections,” Lyons said.
She also wanted to put worried voters’ minds at ease, saying there are protections in place to prevent fraud.
“There are so many checks and balances that we have just to make sure that the elections are accurate here in Michigan,” she said.
She also talked about the importance of the method voters in Michigan use to cast their ballots.
“I think the holy grail of ensuring that our elections are accurate is that we are voting on paper ballots.”
“If there’s any question, any issue after the election is certified, there’s always an opportunity for a candidate to ask for a recount, so paper ballots are critical to that,” Lyons said.
Lyons talked about the accuracy of the election equipment, saying it is tested before every election to ensure that the tabulators are functioning properly, the ballots are counted properly and they are zeroed out before Election Day.
“Elections are a bipartisan process. We have Republicans and Democrats – our friends, our family, our neighbors are working elections in our precincts. There’s just a lot of checks and balances to ensure the accuracy and the integrity of the election,” Lyons said.
Communications Advisor for Keep Our Republic, Kasi Meyer talked about the partnership with Michiganders for Civic Resilience, saying they came together to help promote their message.
“Both of our organizations are focused on a common mission,” Meyer said.
Meyer said the tour has gone well so far and they are very pleased by the reception they have seen in the different communities in the U.P.
She said that the goal of Keep Our Republic and the tour in general is to educate the community.
“We’re not out here advocating for any candidates or policy, we truly are just trying to educate,” Meyer said.
She said a common misconception about elections is that there is a lot of fraud taking place.
“I think that misconception is born out of misinformation,” she said.
She said that we are now living in a time where misinformation can spread through communities like wildfire.
“People hear whisperings of fraud and then it takes off and I think that if people take the time to really understand the process what’s going on, what are the checks and balances and who’s behind it – they’ll understand that the ability to commit fraud on any kind of level that would impact an election is near to impossible,” Meyer said.
Like Lyons, Grieg and Schuitmaker said, Meyer points to the checks and balances built into the election system.
Representatives from the two organizations said it will finish its tour of the U.P. this week and will continue the tour downstate in September.
To learn more about Michiganders for Civic Resilience, visit micivic.org.
To learn more about Keep Our Republic, visit keepourrepublic.org.
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Publish date : 2024-08-29 20:05:00
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