Senators Johnson and Wojno asked and were granted unanimous consent to make statements and moved that the statements be printed in the Journal.
The motion prevailed.
Senator Johnson’s statement is as follows:
I rise to ask my colleagues to support this amendment. The Secretary of State has already had over a year to work on implementation of the bipartisan law I sponsored to help our military men and women to vote more easily and securely. The 2024 election itself is still over a year away. Asking for a delay until September 2025 is unreasonable and will disenfranchise our military men and women by depriving them of this secure tool to vote more easily in the upcoming state and federal elections.
My amendment would extend the current deadline for the Secretary of State from January 2024 to July 2024, providing an additional six months for her office to do the work necessary to help our military members vote. This would still allow military members to use the option for the 2024 election. A baby can be made in nine months; this certainly should be able to be done in that amount of time. I urge my colleagues to support this common-sense amendment.
Senator Wojno’s statement is as follows:
I urge my colleagues to vote “no” on this amendment that is presently being offered. It has been an honor to sponsor this legislation giving overseas military men and women this option to return their AV ballots. The Michigan Department of State said it would like to be able to pilot this process during odd-year elections in 2025 before going statewide in 2026. It is important that we ensure our overseas military personnel have the option of the electronic return of their ballots and the Secretary of State’s office have adequate time to implement a secure portal for these ballots to be processed.
The following bill was read a third time:
Senate Bill No. 331, entitled
A bill to amend 1893 PA 206, entitled “The general property tax act,” by amending sections 9o, 19, and 30 (MCL 211.9o, 211.19, and 211.30), section 9o as amended by 2021 PA 150, section 19 as amended by 2017 PA 261, and section 30 as amended by 2013 PA 153.
The question being on the passage of the bill,
The bill was passed, a majority of the members serving voting therefor, as follows: