A Michigan state senator at the center of election integrity bills told The Kyle Olson Show this week the package is intended to “make it easier to vote and harder to cheat.”
Legislative Republicans have introduced a series of 39 bills in an attempt to address issues that arose during the counting process and actions by Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson that were later ruled illegal by a state judge.
Michigan Court of Claims Chief Judge Christopher Murray held Benson violated the state’s Administrative Procedures Act when she arbitrarily made rules for how to analyze absentee ballots, a method of voting Democrats emphasized during the coronavirus pandemic.
State Sen. Lana Theis (R-Brighton) said, “voting fraud is something that is old as time. Since we’ve been voting, there have been people who have been trying to manipulate the vote.”
She said the legislation would require an ID to vote in person and she disputed the claim that one makes it harder to vote.
“All of the different businesses out there screaming and yelling because ID is supposed to suppress the vote,” but she said the opposite is true.
“I’m going to treat everyone like they’re capable, intelligent human beings deserving of respect,” and that they can obtain an ID.
Theis noted many aspects of daily life require an ID, including, “if you want social services, if you want a job, if you want to travel, if you want to go to any kind of entertainment.”
“Even my Facebook page required my ID at one point in time,” she told The Kyle Olson Show.
Ford, GM, and several other Michigan-based companies publicly denounced the package of bills, but Theis encouraged them to attend a hearing to explain why they require ID for their business transactions, but do not think it should be necessary to cast a ballot.
“It is so patently hypocritical for them to be trying to take this stand against election integrity and every American had ought to be truly offended by what it is that they’re doing,” she said.
Theis added the “vast majority of Americans” support the concept of a voter ID.
A Strategic National survey found 72.1 percent of Michigan respondents supported showing photo identification prior to voting. Just 21.9 percent said they did not.
Fifty-eight percent of black respondents supported the concept. Just 32 percent said showing an ID “discriminated against some voters.”
Theis predicted Ford, GM, and the other companies would not be successful at killing the reforms.
“How dare they weaken my vote,” she said.
Kyle Olson is a reporter for Breitbart News. He is also host of “The Kyle Olson Show,” syndicated on Michigan radio stations on Saturdays–download full podcast episodes. Follow him on Parler.
