Pursuant to Joint Rule 20, the full title of the act shall be inserted to read as follows:
“An act to reorganize, consolidate, and add to the election laws; to provide for election officials and prescribe their powers and duties; to prescribe the powers and duties of certain state departments, state agencies, and state and local officials and employees; to provide for the nomination and election of candidates for public office; to provide for the resignation, removal, and recall of certain public officers; to provide for the filling of vacancies in public office; to provide for and regulate primaries and elections; to provide for the purity of elections; to guard against the abuse of the elective franchise; to define violations of this act; to provide appropriations; to prescribe penalties and provide remedies; and to repeal certain acts and all other acts inconsistent with this act,”
The Senate agreed to the full title.
Senator Johnson asked and was granted unanimous consent to make a statement and moved that the statement be printed in the Journal.
The motion prevailed.
Senator Johnson’s statement is as follows:
I rise to support my amendment. While I support the intent of this bill, we have existing laws which already make it illegal to threaten election workers, who are the backbone of our elections. Extra precautions may be appropriate but I feel there are flaws in this bill that my amendment seeks to address. The bill states that constitutionally-protected activities including news gathering, protesting, or lobbying are not subject to this act. However, the bill does not include the protected activities of poll challengers, another important cog in the wheel of our elections. Poll challengers are recognized in our laws and provide an important check-and-balance on our elections. These are citizen-volunteers who have been trained and are credentialed to observe and help to ensure the integrity of our elections. This bill provides that protestors cannot be held liable under this act for intimidating an election worker, but a trained and credentialed poll challenger—recognized under Michigan law—does not have the same protections. This is simply not right. My amendment would extend the same protections to the statutorily-protected activities of a poll challenger. This is a very important amendment and I ask for my colleagues’ support.
The following bill was read a third time:
House Bill No. 4695, entitled
A bill to amend 1954 PA 116, entitled “Michigan election law,” by amending sections 674 and 720j (MCL 168.674 and 168.720j), section 674 as amended and section 720j as added by 2023 PA 81.
The question being on the passage of the bill,
The bill was passed, a majority of the members serving voting therefor, as follows: