Michigan governors, county clerks work to boost confidence in Michigan elections
LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - Former and current government officials were at the Kellogg Center in East Lansing Thursday to talk about election security. It’s an effort to boost voter confidence.
Thursday’s panel featured Republicans and Democrats as part of the Democracy Defense. Former congressman Mike Bishop was joined by former Michigan governors John Engler and Jim Blanchard, as well as current Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum and Kent County Clerk Lisa Lyons.
The panel looked at a statewide survey conducted by the Glengariff Group asking voters about their confidence in Michigan’s election policies.
77 percent of Michigan voters are very confident or somewhat confident that the November election will be fair and secure. However, that changes when breaking down the respondents by party.
Just 36 percent of Republican respondents say they will be very confident of the election results compared to Democrats 60 percent.
The pollster who conducted the survey, Richard Czuba said voter confidence improves dramatically with basic public education on elections.
“There is a pathway here to build confidence in our elections and it revolves around knowledge and helping voters understand what’s currently happening,” Czuba explained.
The biggest concerns Michigan voters have with our election is the role foreign governments could play and artificial intelligence being used to mislead voters.
Democrat respondents said their top concerns were the Trump campaign undermining the results of the election along with the role of foreign governments.
Republican respondents have more concerns. The biggest among Republican voters are people voting who aren’t eligible to, as well as voting irregularities and AI misleading voters.
Respondents also said they were concerned with the Harris campaign undermining the election, foreign government interference and election officials counting ballots without oversight.
“Our county is being torn apart by this polarization so we have to acknowledge the concerns that are out there, we have to promote this idea of bipartisan oversight,” Bishop said.
The survey showed that a majority of voters are unaware of a number of safeguards being taken to secure the election, but become more confident when they learn about 12 election practices.
| Policy | Not Policy | Not Sure | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62.4% | 19.2% | 17.9% | Require identification for in person voting. |
| 56.5% | 15.7% | 27.6% | Require every voting machine be tested prior to an election. |
| 49.6% | 18.6% | 31.8% | Not allow any ballots be counted that are postmarked after the election day. |
| 46.3% | 25.7% | 27.9% | Require both machine and hand counting in elections with close results |
| 46% | 18.7% | 35.2% | Paper ballots stored in locked facilities with a chain of custody |
| 43% | 20.2% | 36.7% | Require that the number of ballots balances with the number of absentees and in-person votes cast. |
| 42.7% | 25.4% | 31.8% | Require that signatures on absentee ballots match the signature in the voting book. |
| 37.9% | 26% | 35.5% | GOP and Democrat parties allowed to monitor process and challenge irregularities. |
| 33.7% | 25% | 41% | Require voter rolls be updated regularly. |
| 28.1% | 31.6% | 40.2% | Ensure voting machines not connected to internet. |
| 26.2% | 38.7% | 35.1% | Require drop boxes be video monitored/ballots be collected daily by authorized personnel. |
| 24.2% | 30% | 45.8% | Use multi-state databases to check for duplicate registrations. |
81.8% of respondents who said they lacked confidence at the start of the survey are more confident when learning these policies.
“We have adopted many more checks and balances. Having early voting, having same-day registration, having more opportunities to vote by absentee has created opportunities to increase our security in our elections,” Byrum said.
Click here to learn more about the safeguards protecting our elections that are in place.
Subscribe to our News 10 newsletter and YouTube page to receive the latest local news and weather. Looking to hire people, or grow your business through advertising? Gray Digital Media is your one-stop marketing solution. Learn more.
Copyright 2024 WILX. All rights reserved.