Carlos Osorio / AP
Gov. Rick Snyder of Michigan
In what counts as a profile in courage these days, a Republican governor has vetoed large parts of a package of measures that would have made it harder for minorities and the poor to vote.
Michigan governor Rick Snyder said he won't sign a bill drawn up by GOP lawmakers which would have required a photo I.D. for first-time registration, or to get an absentee ballot.
“Voting rights are precious and we need to work especially hard to make it possible for people to vote," Snyder said.
Snyder also rejected related GOP-backed measures that would have required voters to check a box affirming their citizenship, and that would have made it harder for voter registration groups to operate in the state. A similar law targeting voter registration groups in Florida is currently the subject of a lawsuit, and has been blocked by a judge for now.
Voting rights groups say all these measures would likely have a disproprtionate impact on poor and minority voters, who lean Democratic.
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Seems to be a case of where a Republican just has the common sense to avoid lawsuits, or, just feels a sense of our being a democracy, or, knows that the GOP has already gone too far in Michigan and he wants the party to survive what has already been done. Guess, only the Governor knows, for sure. Whatever the reason, very good for him and I hope he continues to govern with this wisdom.
wow....there may be hope for Michigan after all. i pretty much had wrote the state off as fascist. way to go Mr. Snyder.
I think the Governor read the signs especially considering that the Justice Department isn't taking the deliberate and treasonous attempts at suppressing democracy very lightly or too kindly either.
The governor vetoed this law for one reason only because he wants to send a message to Detroit that he is serious about working with them. He knows Michigan will not be a success unless Detroit gets its act together and this is yet another attempt to reach out to the corrupted Detroit Leaders. He has lived up to his twitter name #OneToughNerd