Help or hindrance?
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
UPDATE: This post has been updated to more clearly identify the two organizations as voting-rights political nonprofits.
LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – A pair of political voting-rights nonprofit organizations say they are just trying to increase the participation of under-represented people in the elections by mailing out voter registration applications.
But local election officials tell 6 News however well intention the Voter Participation Center and the Center for Voter Information may be, their efforts are adding to the workload and causing confusion in local clerks’ offices.
The group’s president and CEO tells 6 News the confusion isn’t a real issue.
“While there may be some confusion,” Tom Lopach tells 6 News, “we’ve helped register hundreds of thousands of Michiganders in recent years. And that’s a great thing.”
He says in March, the organizations have mailed over 450,000 pieces of literature to Michigan residents. Each piece has a return address that tracks back to a post office box at the U.S. Post Office on Allegan St. in downtown Lansing. Some of those mailings include return addresses to the local clerks,
Lopach says the organizations have a system in place to bring eligible but unregistered voters into voting rolls. The groups obtain the files of registered voters, which are available in Michigan under the Freedom of Information Act. That’s their starting point.
“We go out and get commercial data files to identify people,” he says. “And then we remove those who are on the voter file who are already registered.”
Those “commercial data files” include magazine subscription lists and other subscription lists available for sale across the country. They also have to comb official death records databases to remove the names of deceased people and run their lists through a system that compares names to commonly used pet names.
Angela Benander, director of communications for Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, says “The organization is using voter data that is public information but is not necessarily up to date.”
Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum has communicated with both organizations in the past, In 2020, a widower contacted Byrum to complain that his wife, who had been deceased for decades, was receiving mail applications for voting that appeared to be from Bryum’s office.
In 2019, she reached out to the organization when another voter, who had been registered to vote and participated in elections for over 40 years at the same address, received a voter registration application.
Lansing City Clerk Chris Swope says despite all this data shifting and comparison, the applications are still landing in the mailboxes of currently and properly registered voters.
“We do have a lot of people who just get it, fill it out, send it in,” he says. “So, it does cost a lot of time for us. The ones that we do get back, I would say over 90% of the people are already registered at that same address.”
In 2022, the two organizations claimed gross receipts of over $55 million.
Lopach says the mailers come with disclaimers explaining where the mailing came from and encourages registered voters to recycle the form.
Marie Wicks is the interim City Clerk for the city of East Lansing, and she received one of the mailings at her home. She thinks the disclaimer could be bolder. She’s also concerned about the application mailers showing up in voters’ mailboxes at the same time as absentee ballots are hitting mailboxes.
“We are already so tense around elections that, again, while well-intended, it muddies the water unnecessarily,” she says.
When a person completes the application, it makes its way to the local clerk. Their employees have to verify if the applicant is qualified to vote in Michigan, either due to age or current criminal punishment, and whether or not they are already a registered voter.
Lopach says that a system is in place to prevent false voter registrations.
Jackson County Clerk Cierra Sowle says they’re dealing with the same issues from the two groups. And it’s stretching resources.
“If they are having backtrack to double check things this can certainly slow down our already taxed local clerks and county clerks,” she tells 6 News.
Lopach says the groups will spend 70 million dollars in 2024 in 35 states to encourage unrepresented votes. The efforts have also drawn concern in Alabama, where Secretary of State Wes Allen warned residents this week of the mailers according to sister station WKRG.
Wondering if you’re registered to vote? You can find out here. It’s a Michigan Secretary of State website.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WLNS 6 News.
