Waterford Today

The Michigan Senate recently approved legislation sponsored by Sen. Ruth Johnson (R-Holly) that would permit local election officials to begin processing the anticipated high number of absentee ballots on the day before the upcoming November election.

WJR’s "The Frank Beckmann Show" host told his audience during a recent show, where he invited Johnson to discuss the legislation, that 2.1 million absentee ballots have been requested around the state. 

"We only have about 10 million people in the entire state,” Beckmann told his audience. “That’s 20% of the population asking for absentee ballots.”

Sen. Ruth Johnson | #MiSenateGOP

As a former secretary of state who has overseen past elections, Johnson has a strong idea of the challenge that number presents to election officials, Beckmann said.

When Beckmann asked Johnson whether she shared his concern that the state is headed for a “mess” concerning the election, she responded, “Yeah, I think we’re already in the mess.”

"Just yesterday I got a report that the secretary of state accidentally sent out ballots for the Move Act -- which is for military personnel, to get them out 45 days in advance, so they have a chance to vote -- and it listed the president’s name, and then it listed as his running mate somebody named Cohen, rather than Pence,” Johnson told Beckmann. Jeremy Cohen is actually the Libertarian Party candidate for vice president.

Johnson said that and other actions at the state level -- such as sending out an estimated 800,000 pre-filled absentee ballot request forms addressed to people who may not even live in the state now -- has her concerned that the local election officials are being set up for failure through no fault of their own.

But Johnson said that the approval of her legislation by the Michigan Senate offers a silver lining. The bills permit precinct workers to work in shifts to speed up the vote-counting process.

The bill has also made it out of committee in the Michigan House, she told Beckmann.