LANSING, MI (WTVB) – Nearly a dozen Michigan Republican lawmakers, including Branch County’s representative in the State Senate Jonathan Lindsey, are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to declare several voter-approved election laws unconstitutional.
The legislators say that Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson violated their constitutional rights by enforcing laws passed through ballot proposals in 2018 and 2022. Those measures include automatic voter registration, no-reason absentee voting, and the creation of an independent commission to redraw legislative and congressional district boundaries.
The lawmakers claim these laws violate the U.S. Constitution’s Elections Clause.
In addition to Lindsey, the petitioning legislators include Senator Jim Runestad and Representatives Steve Carra, James DeSana, Joseph Fox, Neil Friske, Matt Maddock, Brad Paquette, Angela Rigas, Joshua Schriver and Rachelle Smit, who are all Republicans.
Named as defendants are Whitmer, Benson and Jonathan Brater, director of the Michigan Bureau of Elections.
A federal district court dismissed the lawmakers’ initial lawsuit in 2023, citing a lack of standing. That led to their appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
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