HOLLAND, MI (WHTC-AM/FM) – Michigan voters will be asked this November to decide on changes to the state’s voting laws, including allowing straight-ticket balloting in general elections, allowing no-reason absentee balloting, and giving citizens the chance to cast a ballot the same day they register to vote. It’s the latter provision that Republican Secretary of State candidate Mary Treder Lang finds particularly objectionable. Lang predicts that Proposal 3, the “Promote the Vote” measure, could lead to increased workloads for local clerks and long lines at polling booths.
“When you need to register to vote, you go to the clerk’s office. You don’t go to a precinct the day of the election to do this,” Lang said. “You are putting so much responsibility on a clerk with this bill, which is far beyond what they have to do just in their normal day responsibilities on Election Day.”
Lang, who owns her own public accounting firm in the Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe, is running against Democrat Jocelyn Benson for the office being vacated by current Republican Secretary of State Ruth Johnson, who is term-limited. Also running are Libertarian Gregory Stemple and U.S. Taxpayers Party candidate Robert Gale. Lang is also vice president of the Eastern Michigan University Board of Regents. She appeared this morning on WHTC’s “Talk of the Town.”
-Greg Chandler
