New Michigan laws tighten restrictions on election recounts, fraud allegations, raising GOP concerns

Michigan recently enacted laws that appear to crack down on voting irregularities or fraud, but state GOP lawmakers say they instead make effort to flag such problem more difficult and onerous. 

Among the measures signed into law last week by Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is one prohibiting election canvassers from investigating fraud allegations and instead requiring them to refer such concerns to a county prosecutor or the state's attorney general.

"Whether you’re an independent, Democrat or Republican, this doesn’t help you. This kind of stuff is crafted to get an outcome for the people who are not transparent," state Sen. James Runestad (R) said in June, before the measures were signed into law.

The measures also make clear a recount is not a probe on voter fraud or the state's voting process.

“A recount is not an investigation or an audit of the conduct of an election,” nor does it “assess the qualifications of electors participating in an election or the manner in which ballots are applied for or issued to electors,” reads S.B. 603, one of the laws signed by Whitmer.

The new laws also allow a recount only if alleged errors would have flipped the election result.

S.B. 603 also attempts to make sure election workers conducting recounts are protected. 

If anyone “willfully interferes with a recount or activities of a recount,” they will be “guilty of a felony,” according to the law, which was passed with S.B. 604, a law that changes the sentencing guidelines for offenders to a maximum five years.

Whitmer said that the bills support “fair and free elections that make sure the winner can take office without unnecessary interference.”

Michigan state GOP Rep. Jaime Greene argued both Senate bills when passed the state House in June are “watering down protections is counterproductive when several red flags have arisen within the state’s elections process..

Greene also argued the bills fail to put in place to system to learn whether someone votes in multiple states, which she called "a real issue facing the state of Michigan as evidenced by the secretary of State removing some 170,000 people no longer living here from our voter rolls only after she was sued.”

Michigan enacted laws last November that critics also say are counter to election integrity, such as expanding automatic voter registration and clarifying that boards of canvassers do not have discretion over certification of an election.

Other Democratic-led states have also enacted laws this year that appear to negatively impact election integrity.

In Maryland, a law was enacted that requires a portal to be maintained on the State Board of Elections’ website where the public can report instances of election misinformation and disinformation. The state board is required to review the reports and, when necessary, “issue corrective information or refer submissions to the State Prosecutor.”

Election disinformation is defined by the law as "knowingly and deliberately disseminated" misinformation, which is "incorrect or misleading information regarding the time, place, or manner of an election, election results, or voting rights in the state."

However, election integrity advocates have repeatedly warned against government censoring what the deem election dis- and misinformation because it has been used to monitor legitimate concerns about elections.

The Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, for example, was aware of the issues with mail-in voting during the 2020 election cycle but censored social media narratives about the risks as alleged disinformation.

America First legal senior counselor Reed D. Rubenstein said regarding the department's censorship: "Federal bureaucrats knew that there was no credible evidence supporting the claim that in-person voting spread COVID-19, and that mail-in and absentee voting were indeed less secure than in-person voting.

"Yet, the government and its allied social and legacy media companies covered up the truth, using unlawful censorship and bogus 'fact checks' to advance mass vote-by-mail schemes."

In Colorado, a new law changed a requirement for ballot drop boxes at colleges, ensuring that they be placed at campuses with at least 1,000 students, rather than the original minimum of 2,000 students. The law also allows 15-year-olds to preregister to vote, reducing the age from 16.

Since the 2020 presidential election, Republicans such as former President Donald Trump and others have voiced concerns about ballot drop boxes, over such issues as people dropping off a ballot with no system in place to check their identification. 

In March, Republican state senators in Pennsylvania approved a ban on ballot drop boxes, arguing they are not secure and are open to election fraud.

Colorado also enacted a law that criminally penalizes anyone who knowingly votes as a false presidential elector and those who submit a list of presidential electors for candidates that didn’t receive a plurality of votes in the presidential election.

As Colorado enacted a law criminalizing anyone who is a false presidential elector, the Democratic Michigan attorney general is prosecuting Republican presidential electors from the 2020 election.

Last July, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) filed felony election charges against 16 Republicans in relation to their claims to be the legitimate electors of the state for the 2020 presidential election.

The slate of would-be electors, Nessel contends, submitted false certificates claiming that then-President Donald Trump won the state and they were the legitimate electors, the Associated Press reported.

President Joe Biden won the battleground state, its electors, and ultimately the entire presidential contest, though Trump's allies have contended that voter fraud influenced the outcome of the contest and hold that the Republican won.

The prosecution of the electors is ongoing, with 15 of them still facing charges.

The felony charges against James Renner were dropped by the attorney general’s office in October 2023 as part of a cooperation agreement, reported the Michigan Advance.

Renner has testified that he and the 15 defendants did not know that signing the certificates was illegal, according to the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

Every defendant has been charged with eight counts, which include election law forgery and conspiracy to commit election law forgery; uttering and publishing and conspiracy to commit uttering and publishing; forgery and conspiracy to commit forgery, the Michigan Advance reported.

The penalty for the election law charges is a five-year maximum prison sentence, and the forgery charges each include sentences of a maximum 14 years in prison.