Michigan Democratic U.S. Senator Gary Peters said Tuesday that the Trump administration's efforts to change the rules around mail-in voting are a reason to remain vigilant, even after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked new restrictions on absentee ballots.
Peters welcomed the ruling but said he doesn't expect the administration to stop trying to affect elections.
“They want to change the rules. They don't want free and fair elections. They want to do what they can to undermine the credibility of our elections,” Peters said. “So we have to be vigilant.”
The Supreme Court ruled the administration cannot restrict mail-in ballots through the Postal Service ahead of the midterm elections. Two justices dissented.
Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, expressed concerns about voter fraud and said the Postal Service has broad authority to regulate the mail. President Donald Trump has claimed without evidence that absentee voting is rife with fraud.
Peters told Michigan Public Radio the ruling should have been unanimous.
“It's very disappointing that you'd have two justices of the Supreme Court basically doing the bidding of the president, not based on fact, but based on their partisan views,” Peters said.
The debate over election rules also extends to Michigan, where a state House committee has been convened to investigate why a ballot initiative requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote was denied a spot on the November ballot.
The Board of State Canvassers deadlocked 2-2 on the measure from Americans for Citizen Voting. The group submitted more than 700,000 signatures, but the board found a sample of 1,000 contained enough signatures with disqualifying problems that the campaign would not reach the signature threshold required to go before voters.
Republican state Representative Mike Harris, the committee's chair, said the panel plans to hear from election officials and people affiliated with ballot-measure campaigns.
