Contact your representative. Say no to overseas voting by email.
May 11, 2023
Cynthia Richardson, PIME member, testifies before the Mich. House Elections Committee in opposition to House Bill 4210 to allow overseas email ballot returns and HB 4413 to allow campaign donations to be used for candidate's personal expenses, May 9, 2023.
Friend,
Unbelievable as it sounds, the Michigan legislature is plowing ahead with changing our state election laws to allow overseas spouses of military members to return their ballots by email. The next step, of course, will be to expand all overseas voting to email. In fact, this language is already drafted in Senate Bill 0177. Unless we take action today, right now, the worst possible scenario for overseas voting is going to become a reality in our state.
See a sample letter below. Email it or read it aloud when you contact your representatives.
Overseas expatriates can already register to vote online and request an absentee ballot via email. Now, if the Michigan Legislators have their way, it will pass HB 4210 , allowing applicants who say they are spouses of overseas military to return their ballots by email too...without ever seeing a human being, without proving their identity, without showing they are a resident of Michigan, and without even documenting they are citizens.
Sound too crazy to be true? Check out these instructions on the Federal Voting Assistance Program, FVAP, website:
Take another moment and watch the testimony after Cynthia's testimony by Dr. Halderman from the University of Michigan. Dr. Halderman was appointed by Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to co-chair "Michigan's election security advisory commission". In his words, "House Bill 4210 would seriously undermine the security of Michigan's elections." Go to 1:05.00.
Call or email your representative today.
Below is a sample letter to send or read from when you call your rep.
Sincerely,
Patrice Johnson, Chair
Michigan Fair Elections
Pure Integrity Michigan Elections
Dear Honorable __________________________:
As one of your constituents, I am writing to voice my strong opposition to House Bills 4210 and 4413.
House Bill 4210 proposes to expand electronic voting beyond the ‘active uniformed services voter’ to active military spouses. We know active military personnel are granted this convenience because while on active duty overseas, they may be serving on a front line or during wartime in a fox hole, or in a classified location to protect our country.
Overseas military spouses and non-military overseas expatriates, however, have accessible physical addresses. Nothing prevents them from receiving and returning their Absentee Voter Ballot (AVB) by mail.
A significant number of things could (and will) go wrong with HB4210. If enacted HB 4210 will severely compromise the integrity of Michigan’s election system and open the slippery slope to general overseas voting by email:
• Emailing ballots opens the door to fraud, identity theft, and hacking. There is no way to verify the sender is the actual voter, let alone that they are overseas or a citizen.
• Returning ballots via email removes the signature verification step because signatures cannot be verified by email. Only the military system, available to active military only, can provide adequate electronic security.
• Overseas voting requires no physical address at a Michigan residence. How would we know the voter is even a human being, let alone a resident of Michigan?
• Emailing a ballot as an overseas voter requires no proof of citizenship, no driver's license, no state issued ID, no social security number, not or even a utility bill. How secure can making it entirely electronic possibly be?
Voting via UOCAVA (Uniformed And Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act) should be made more secure, not less secure. At the very least, election clerks who process UOCAVA requests for absentee ballots should require copies of the overseas voter's passport.
House Bill 4210 proposes to expand vote by email, despite a significant evidence that email accounts are not secure and can readily be compromised by hackers, phishing techniques, and fraudsters seeking to steal the ballots of actual U.S. citizens. Here in the U.S., no one even verifies that the email addresses belong to the voter claiming to be an overseas spouse or citizen.
Even here on the home front, HB 4210 fails. It potentially creates more work for election workers to complete after polls close at 8 p.m. There are never enough election workers, and most are requested to work the full day starting at 6 a.m. Work that needs to be completed after 8 p.m. may take several hours when workers have already put in a 14-hour or longer day.
For these reasons and more, I urge you to vote against HB 4210.
Now, let's discuss HB 4413. This bill proposes to allow the use of campaign funds to pay for childcare expenses, security, or supervision. Campaign contributions need to go toward expenses related to campaigning, not toward everyday personal responsibilities one needs to manage while running for office.
What is to prevent candidates and elected officials from further expanding campaign finance laws to allow them to supplement their income, housing, transportation, private schooling, cosmetic surgery, etc?
Many candidates and elected officials register to run again not long after they start in office which means the elected official will have long-term covered childcare. Candidates could run for office merely for the childcare benefit!
The citizens of Michigan who work and pay taxes do not have this luxury, so why should candidates and elected officials be so privileged as to tap into their campaign funds for this expense? There is a lot that is not being considered with HB4413. It would open the floodgates of special treatment for those who are supposed to be fulfilling a civic duty.
For these reasons and more, I urge you to vote against HB 4413.
Respectfully,
__[Your name]_______________, member
Pure Integrity Michigan Elections
__[Your mailing address and phone number]___
In addition to Cynthia Richardson testifying at the May 9 hearing, Pure Integrity Michigan Elections submitted the written statement below:
PIME written statement
Elections Cmte hearing, testimony on HB4210 and HB4413
May 9, 2023
My name is Cynthia Richardson, and I am a lifelong Michigan resident. I’d like to thank the Committee for hearing testimony from the citizens of the state.
I am here today to speak in opposition to House Bills 4210 and 4413.
This statement, submitted on behalf of Pure Integrity Michigan Elections, known as PIME, comes with the support of Stand Up Michigan, Michigan Fair Elections (MFE), and the Freedom Alliance Project. PIME is a peaceful, issue-based, nonpartisan movement. We welcome all who support election integrity, and the US and Michigan Constitutions.
House Bill 4210 proposes to expand electronic voting beyond the ‘active uniformed services voter’ to active military spouses. We know active military personnel are granted this convenience because while on active duty overseas, they may be serving on a front line or during wartime in a fox hole, or in a classified location to protect our country. Active military spouses remain at a physical address where they may receive their Absentee Voter Ballot (AVB). There is nothing preventing the spouse from receiving their AVB to their residence.
There are a significant number of things that could go wrong with HB4210 that would compromise the integrity of Michigan’s election system:
• Significant risk to open our election system up to email hacking and fraud.
• Removes the signature verification step because signatures cannot be verified by email.
• No physical address to a Michigan residence is required.
• No proof of residency is required such as driver’s license, state issued ID, or utility bill.
As an election worker, I have not experienced military personnel nor their family members having issues with the current voting process in place with their local Clerk.
What this bill proposes is to expand vote by email. There is a significant amount of evidence that email accounts are not secure and can easily be compromised by hackers and phishing techniques.
HB4210 potentially creates more work for election workers to complete after polls close at 8 p.m. Have all of you worked at a local election? Well, I have. There are never enough election workers, and most are requested to work the full day starting at 6 a.m. Work that needs to be completed after 8 p.m. may take several hours when workers have already put in a 14-hour day. I recall leaving my township after 2 a.m. when I worked the November 2020 election. Other elections I have worked were nothing less than a 15+ hours day. Again, PIME does not support HB 4210.
HB4413 proposes to allow the use of campaign funds to pay for childcare expenses, security or supervision. Campaign contributions need to go towards expenses related to campaigning, not toward everyday personal responsibilities one needs to manage while they run for office.
What is to prevent candidates and elected officials from further expanding campaign finance laws to allow them to supplement their income, housing, transportation, private schooling, cosmetic surgery, etc.? I could go on all morning. Many candidates who are elected register to run again not long after they start in office which means the elected official will have long-term covered childcare.
The citizens of Michigan who work and pay taxes do not have this luxury, so why should candidates and elected officials be so privileged as to tap into their campaign funds for this expense? There is a lot that is not being considered with HB4413 and this will only lead to opening the floodgates of special treatment for those providing a civic duty on behalf of its citizens. PIME does not support HB4413.
Cynthia Richardson, member
Pure Integrity Michigan Elections
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