The record of whether you voted in the Rupublican or Democratic primary on Tuesday — is now the exclusive property of the Michigan Republican Party and the Michigan Democratic Party.
The Center for Michigan has shouted since last fall about this abuse of voter rights and the ensuing Michigan Supreme Court decision upholding the party’s rights to usurp citizens’ voting records for their own purposes. It’s all best summed up by dissenting Supreme Court Justice Michael F. Cavanagh:
“The very idea of supplying lists of voters to private parties, when the voters must either be on the list or not vote, strikes me as an abuse of the elective franchise.”
Now comes ACLU of Michigan with a new suit attempting to trump the Michigan Supreme Court in federal court.
“The main problem with this statue is that it gives valuable political resources to the two major parties to use for almost any purpose while making it a crime for anyone else in the state to use or acquire this information,” says Thomas F. Wieder, ACLU of Michigan Cooperating Attorney.
Any Michigan citizen who cares about the independence of both voters and those who hold office should care about this case.
4 Comments
I thought that in America our vote was a secret ballot, including the selection of ballot in a Presidential Primary. The selection of ballot should not go beyond the Republican or Democratic parties. A voter should not be doing cross overs and assume that the party should not contact him. A voter who crosses over is dishonest or lying. This voter does not believe in the party and/or the candidate. The voter who crosses over is casting a misleading vote. In a presidential primary, the voter should present not only voter ID, but party membership ID to get the ballot.
The fact that the parties would end up with the list of voters is the reason I chose not to vote in the primary. If this rule is not changed, then I will never vote in a Michigan primary again.
Neil’s comment about presenting a party membership card to get the ballot is a bad idea. An individual has no obligation to identify his party affiliation to the State. Having to identify your party affiliation to the government means your vote is no longer private. If I tells someone my party affiliation, that’s my choice. For the State to demand my party affiliation before allowing me to vote is wrong.
It shouldn’t be surprising that both the Democratic and Republican Parties have exclusive right to those who voted for one of their candidates. Both Parties are “big business” and big business runs our lives in every other way, so why not this way? Neil’s comments sound just like a kid that lost a favorite toy!