FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Mark Fisk, [email protected]
LANSING, Michigan, Thursday, Oct. 10 – Michigan voters become more confident in election results once they know about 12 practices that are already state law or in widespread use, a new poll released Thursday shows.
The poll showed 77% of Michiganders initially felt confidence in the elections.
Once voters are told about each of 12 election practices, however, their confidence in the elections soared.
The findings prompted Michigan’s board members of Democracy Defense Project to urge news media, business and union leaders, policymakers and others to play a role in helping to inform Michiganders about how Michigan elections are conducted and all the security measures that are already in place to push back against election misinformation.
“No one Party has a guarantee of success in the upcoming election and both sides have an opportunity to rebuild voters’ trust and restore faith – by educating voters about the security measures that are already in place in Michigan elections,” said former Michigan Gov. John Engler, a Republican. “Michigan has implemented strong protections that ensure every vote is counted accurately and fairly. We hope voters become even more confident in the security of our elections with these 12 common-sense protections. We encourage every Michigander to share the facts about our elections, and we invite policymakers to support and assure these practices are in place.”
While most of the 12 measures individually improved confidence for at least 80% of voters, voter confidence skyrocketed to a whopping 94.5% if all 12 measures were in place. And of the voters who initially said they had no confidence in the elections, 4 in 5 of them said the implementation of the 12 measures would give them confidence in the elections.
This was particularly true amongst supporters of former President Donald Trump, as the poll found the lack of confidence in elections resides primarily with Republican voters. Just 61 percent of Trump supporters said they had confidence in the elections, compared to 92 percent of supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris. Once the 12 measures were explained, Trump voters’ confidence in the election jumped dramatically to 90 percent. Harris supporters’ confidence increased all the way up to 98% upon learning the same.
“Our poll shows us the way forward this election season, that by getting the word out about Michigan’s many voter protection measures, we can increase confidence and reduce misinformation,” said former Michigan Gov. Jim Blanchard, a Democrat. “By sharing basic facts about Michigan’s election protection measures, we can increase confidence and push back on some of the election misinformation so every Michigander can vote safely and securely.”
Blanchard and Engler joined former Republican U.S. Congressman Mike Bishop and former Democratic Lt. Gov. John Cherry as board members of the Democracy Defense Project in Michigan, with a bipartisan mission to preserve election integrity, foster greater confidence in election results and improve voter participation across the state. Democracy Defense Project is a national organization working to defend the transparency, safety, security and validity of elections systems in states across the nation, including in Michigan.
The 12 election measures are:
- Requiring every voting machine used to be tested prior to every election to ensure the machine is operating correctly and reporting the correct results.
- Requiring all paper ballots to be stored in locked facilities with a documented chain of custody to ensure and confirm that they are secure and to prevent tampering.
- Ensuring that no voting machines are connected to the internet so they cannot be accessed or hacked online.
- Requiring all absentee ballot drop boxes be monitored by video and that authorized clerk personnel collect any ballots daily.
- Requiring that for close results, ballots are both machine-counted and then hand-counted to verify their accuracy.
- Requiring city and township clerks to update their voter rolls and remove all inactive or incorrect registrations on a regular basis.
- Requiring that the number of ballots issued balances with the number of absentee ballots and in-person votes cast.
- Requiring state election officials to use multi-state databases to check for duplicate voters’ registration in multiple states.
- Requiring that the signature on absentee ballots matches the signature in the official voting book before it can be counted.
- Requiring every voter in Michigan that votes in person to present identification before casting a ballot or if they forget their ID, requiring them to sign a legal affidavit attesting to who they are.
- Not allowing ballots to be counted that are postmarked after election day unless they are military or overseas ballots.
- Requiring that Republican, Democratic and other voter interest groups are allowed to assign credentialed individuals to each polling location and absentee counting board to monitor the voting processes and challenge any irregularities.
Half of the measures are already required by state law: testing machines, video monitoring of drop boxes, verifying and matching signatures, presenting ID before voting, ballot deadlines and credentialing monitors. The other six are best practices and are in widespread use across the state. The poll showed that a majority of Michiganders did not know 10 of the 12 measures were policy or law; just 62% said they were aware of voter ID requirements and only 56% were aware that voting machines must be tested before elections.
“Michigan’s election officials are doing important work, making sure our elections are safe, secure and transparent, and they deserve our thanks for preserving our democracy,” Cherry said. “Each of us has an opportunity to do our part in protecting every vote and supporting election workers, by sharing fact-based information about security measures that keep Michigan elections fair and accurate, with results people can trust.”
The poll found that 1 in 4 strong Republican and Trump voters did not trust local elections officials from their own party.
“As our election season heads for the finish line, we have an opportunity to rally around our friends, family and neighbors who are working as elections officers or volunteer poll workers and help them do the hard work of democracy,” Bishop said. “Michigan is taking important, meaningful steps to protect every ballot and reduce the risks of fraud, cheating and interference. Clearly, we can do even more, and Democracy Defense Project looks forward to supporting that work.”
The Glengariff Group conducted the phone poll of 800 likely Michigan voters Sept. 23-28, with a 3.5% margin of error. The Democracy Defense Project commissioned the poll.
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More information on the Democracy Defense Project can be found at democracydefenseproject.org.
Published: Oct 10, 2024
