Antrim County Clerk Victoria Bishop says she was trying to ease the burden on township clerks when she sent postcards to voters asking them to confirm their address.
That was part of Bishop's response to demands from the state Bureau of Elections, which issued a letter accusing Bishop of improperly changing the state’s Qualified Voter Files (QVF) – the official list of registered voters.
The state says Bishop has no authority to question voters' addresses in the way she did.
Bishop responds to state
Read her letter to the Bureau of Elections (PDF)
In her written response, Bishop says her intent was to quote “expedite the information and absorb the cost for the township clerks.”
“The Majority of feedback I have received from the Voter’s (sic) who have received the cards is 'It’s About Time,'" Bishop wrote.
Emails obtained by IPR reveal that township clerks pointed out a number of issues with the postcards and asked her not to send them.
In one message, Debbie Husband, clerk for Elk Rapids township, told Bishop voters were coming to her office in a panic.
“They were questioning why they received this,” Husband later told IPR. “They were coming in and telling me they haven’t moved, they haven’t changed their address..they’ve been coming in to vote.”
Was your registration questioned?
IPR has obtained the lists — organized by township — of some 1,800 voters who were sent postcards and asked to confirm their voter registration status.
SEE THE LISTS
Bishop did not respond to requests for comment.
The postcard voters received tells them that their registration could be canceled if they don’t return the card or they don’t vote in either of the next two elections.
IPR has obtained the list of about 1,800 Antrim County voters who were sent notices asking them to confirm their address.
Some of the voters who were sent verification cards were chosen because they hadn’t voted in the last 2 major elections.
The letter to Bishop says “Michigan law is explicit that a clerk may not cancel, or cause the cancellation of, a voter’s registration solely because a voter has missed one or two elections.”
But some of the people who received cards were too young to vote two elections ago.
