OLIVE TWP., MI (WHTC-AM/FM, Jan. 31, 2023) – Integrity has its price, some may say, but Justin Roebuck won’t compromise on integrity.
That’s the message sent by the Ottawa County Clerk and Register of Deeds after a Tuesday announcement on pulling his office’s Elections Division from further consideration for participation in the newly-created US Alliance for Election Excellence. That division was named in November as a finalist for the program created by a non-partisan national collaboration to “bring together election officials, designers, technologists and other experts to envision, support and celebrate excellence in US election administration.”
What led Roebuck to pull his office out of this initiative was the decision by the Alliance to award significant private grant dollars directly to participating election offices. That could lead to the appearance of monetary influence by those private donors.
“While I value the overall stated goals of the Alliance, I firmly believe that funding for election administration must come from federal, state and local governments,” the local clerk said in a statement. “When private individual seek to fund election operations, it casts a shadow over public trust in the process, particularly when the resources can be tied to individuals or groups who may have also contributed to political parties or candidates.”
The decision means that Ottawa County is turning its back on a five-year, $80 million Alliance initiative. No other Michigan counties are involved.
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