{"id":6120,"date":"2023-11-30T18:41:27","date_gmt":"2023-11-30T23:41:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/votingaccessforall.org\/?p=6120"},"modified":"2023-11-30T18:41:29","modified_gmt":"2023-11-30T23:41:29","slug":"michigan-law-is-first-to-automatically-register-people-to-vote-as-they-leave-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/votingaccessforall.org\/es\/2023\/11\/michigan-law-is-first-to-automatically-register-people-to-vote-as-they-leave-prison\/","title":{"rendered":"La ley de Michigan es la primera en registrar autom\u00e1ticamente a las personas para votar cuando salen de la prisi\u00f3n"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The article below first appeared in Bolts Magazine<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alex Burness<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 November 17, 2023<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Thursday, November 30, 2023, Governor Whitmer signed into law legislation that expands automatic voter registration to people leaving prison, applying at Medicaid offices, and other locations. It will likely add many new Michiganders to voter rolls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nobody told Percy Glover<\/a> (a VAAC member!) he could vote when he was released from prison nineteen years ago. Michigan allows anyone who is not presently incarcerated to vote, meaning Glover could have immediately registered, but he spent years unaware of his rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was struggling financially. I couldn\u2019t find a job. I was lost in everything,\u201d he told Bolts<\/em>. \u201cIt was years later before I actually considered even thinking about voting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Glover eventually learned his rights and started working to engage others in democracy. Last year, he founded F.A.I.R Voting Alliance, a nonprofit<\/a> that advocates for more inclusive election procedures in Michigan, and this month he is celebrating a major legislative victory: The state is about to make it a lot easier for people who exit prison to end up on voter rolls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

State lawmakers last week adopted House Bill 4983<\/a>, which would put Michigan in a unique class. If signed by the governor, this would be the first law in the nation to require a state to register people to vote when they\u2019re released from prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The state would later send people mail notifying them that they have been registered to vote, as well as giving them the option to decline and opt out of voter rolls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michigan first adopted automatic voter registration in 2018 as part of Proposal 3, a ballot measure that voters overwhelmingly approved<\/a>. The idea is for public agencies to leverage their existing interactions with citizens to register them to vote, relieving individuals of that burden and shifting it to the state. But, like in most of the other states that have set up this program, Michigan has only implemented it to add people to voter rolls when they get, renew, or update their driver\u2019s licenses or state IDs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HB 4983 would significantly expand automatic voter registration by ordering the Department of Corrections to implement it as well; at least 8,000 people are released from state prison each year in Michigan, according to the secretary of state\u2019s office. The bill would also bring other agencies into the program, building on steps that a few states have already taken to register people when they obtain a Native American tribal ID, or when they sign up for Medicaid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe wanted to include more than just driver\u2019s licenses so that we could really get people registered any time they\u2019re interacting with our government, which includes Medicaid offices and the Department of Corrections,\u201d state Representative Penelope Tsernoglou, the Democrat who sponsored the legislation, told Bolts<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tsernoglou was first elected in 2022 as part of a blue surge<\/a> that delivered full control of Michigan\u2019s state government to the Democratic Party for the first time since the 1980s. Democrats have passed a number of major voting bills this year, and HB 4983 itself is part of a broad voting-rights package that now awaits the signature of Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who has supported other efforts to expand ballot access. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Voting rights advocates in Michigan say they\u2019re confident she will sign these new reforms; her office would not specify her plans when asked by Bolts<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These advocates wanted to build on the 2018 ballot initiative to expand its reach. \u201cProp 3 was a huge step in the right direction, but there were a lot of people not interacting [with a driver\u2019s license office] so conversations since then really centered around how to reach people where they\u2019re at,\u201d said Ben Gardner, Michigan campaign manager for All Voting Is Local, a national organization. This bill also authorizes Michigan to still identify other public agencies in the future that could also automatically register people to vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michigan is already better than most states<\/a> at registering people to vote, but there are still hundreds of thousands of eligible Michiganders who aren\u2019t registered\u2014and that population includes disproportionate numbers of low-income people and people of color, voting rights advocates say. They\u2019re confident that, if Whitmer signs the bill to strengthen automatic voter registration, it can expect to reach and sign up most of them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides applying automatic voter registration to more agencies, HB 4983 would also greatly change how the program works\u2014even at driver\u2019s license offices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right now, Michiganders are asked whether they want to opt out of having the state register them to vote in the course of the transaction in which they\u2019re getting or updating an ID. Under HB 4983, they would no longer be asked this question while conducting this other business; instead, they would later be sent a mailer at home, and they would have to return it if they wish to not be registered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is known as \u201cback-end\u201d automatic voter registration. Data from Colorado, which has also opted for such a model, show<\/a> that this system dramatically reduces the share of people who choose to opt out. This year alone, New Mexico<\/a>, Oregon<\/a>, and Washington, D.C.<\/a>, have adopted similar legislation to switch from \u201cfront-end\u201d to \u201cback-end\u201d models. Oregon\u2019s bill, like Michigan\u2019s, also extends its program to apply to Medicaid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Medicaid change comes with an asterisk, though: States cannot enact it without the blessing of the federal government, which for years has held up such reforms. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked about Michigan\u2019s bill, the Biden administration told Bolts<\/em> this week that it is reviewing the issue, echoing an earlier statement it shared with Bolts <\/em>in July<\/a> about Oregon\u2019s bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe recognize the importance of state Medicaid agencies assisting in expanding voter access and registration activities for the populations they serve,\u201d the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) said in its new statement. \u201cCMS is considering additional opportunities to enhance Medicaid\u2019s role in promoting voter registration while also ensuring compliance with Medicaid confidentiality requirements.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Michigan would not need to wait for any approval to enlist its prison system into expanding voter rolls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Penelope Tsernoglou, a Democratic state Representative in Michigan, sponsored the legislation to expand automatic voter registration in Michigan. (Photo from Tsernoglou\/Facebook).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In fact, the state has already begun experimenting with this reform through administrative changes. According to the secretary of state\u2019s office, Michigan has given people exiting any state prison the opportunity to register to vote since 2020, through a program that helps them obtain a state ID as they re-enter society. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

HB 4983 will substantially build on that administrative effort, codifying it into law to make it a requirement for the DOC to register people. It\u2019d also expand it to anyone released from prison independent of an ID program, and switch the procedure to a back-end model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michigan is particularly well positioned to leverage the point at which people leave prison to register to vote, since it\u2019s among 24 states where people regain the right to vote as soon as they exit the prison, without any of the long waiting periods or onerous additional conditions that many other states impose<\/a>. (In Maine and Vermont, plus D.C., anyone can also vote from prison) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erica Peresman, a voting rights attorney in Michigan, told Bolts<\/em> that many formerly incarcerated people are currently disinclined to register because they\u2019re worried about whether they\u2019re allowed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019d be afraid of doing something wrong,\u201d said Peresman, who is senior advisor at the Michigan nonprofit Promote the Vote. \u201cWe\u2019d be out there at voter registration drives and people would say, \u2018no, I have a felony on my record.\u2019 They didn\u2019t want to get in trouble, and they weren\u2019t necessarily going to listen to some lady standing on the street with a clipboard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HB 4983 will solve some of that problem; formerly incarcerated people will no longer have to wonder whether it\u2019s safe to register because the state will automatically do that for them and send them a mailer.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, advocates say Michigan should go further. The state will need a \u201cmassive voter education effort\u201d to complement the new policy, said Peresman, who warns that many who stand to be affected by the state\u2019s recent expansions to voter rights may still not realize that they\u2019ve been registered, or that that they could take advantage of new voting procedures like vote-by-mail<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tsernoglou, the bill\u2019s sponsor, agrees. She wanted the legislature to also pass another bill that would have required the Department of Corrections to provide people with specific information about their voting rights. That bill, HB 4534<\/a>, would have required prison officials to tell people who exit incarceration that they are eligible to vote, how to obtain a mail ballot, and when elections are held in Michigan. (The secretary of state\u2019s office says it already provides some of this info to people leaving prison; HB 4534 would expand and codify enshrine that in law.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill did not pass either chamber before the legislature adjourned last week. \u201cI think that bill would be a prime example of something we could do additionally, next year,\u201d Tsernoglou told Bolts<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another issue that the reform will likely run into is that some people who leave prison don\u2019t have a stable address to provide. Khyla Craine, deputy legal director in the secretary of state\u2019s office, told Bolts<\/em> that her office allows people with unstable housing situations to update their addresses online; the state would work with parole and probation officers, plus community organizations like Percy Glover\u2019s, to make sure people know how to do this, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Glover said that a bill like HB 4983 can only go so far if the state does not also step up its investment in the success of people re-entering society, ensuring they have access to jobs and housing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVoter economics is real,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you are impoverished, you are not thinking about an election, and most people leaving a prison are not walking into a strong financial position. Finding somewhere to live, having transportation, having basic needs met\u2014that\u2019s the priority.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plan to automatically register people leaving prison is \u201cvery important,\u201d he added, \u201cbut we won\u2019t see significant turnout, as we should, without all these other layers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Michigan Law Is First to Automatically Register People to Vote As They Leave Prison<\/a><\/blockquote>