Democrats condemn proof of citizenship voting resolution advancing in Michigan House as 'poll tax'
A resolution to require proof of citizenship to vote in Michigan cleared the Republican-led House Election Integrity Committee Tuesday while Democrats on the committee condemned the measure as a veiled attempt to install a poll tax.
The partisan divide on the proposed policy, House Joint Resolution B, was made abundantly clear last week as the committee took testimony. Republican supporters of the resolution implored the need for guardrails on non-citizen voting, while Democrats in opposition remarked the resolution is vague about what documentation voters would need to produce, jeopardizing qualified voters’ ability to vote if they fail to produce certain forms of ID.
Under the resolution, every Michigan voter would have to identify themselves as a citizen either when they register to vote or at a later date to the Secretary of State or their local clerk. The resolution outlines that the Secretary of State “must use all reasonable efforts to obtain information regarding the citizenship status of those individuals listed in the statewide qualified voter file”.
Amid Democratic opposition asserting that the resolution, which would likely not pass the partisanly split state Legislature, Former Brighton Township Clerk and current state Rep. Ann Bollin (R- Brighton Twp.) testified in the House Election Integrity Committee that the resolution wouldn’t make it harder to vote, but it would make it harder to cheat.
https://michiganadvance.com/2025/03/11/democrats-condemn-proof-of-citizenship-voting-resolution-advancing-in-michigan-house-as-poll-tax/