URGENT ALERT: Michigan Moves to Silence Citizens on Election Integrity

PIME Members: Your Immediate Action Required Before September 5, 2025

Michigan's Department of State is attempting to push through administrative rules that would fundamentally gut citizen oversight and clerk authority over voter registration processes. These rules, disguised as routine "standardization," represent a coordinated effort to silence election integrity advocates and handcuff local clerks from maintaining accurate voter rolls. They are a direct assault of CheckMyVote.org and online research of ineligible voter registrations. Also, they open the door wide to overseas foreigners voting as a “protected class.”

The Threat to Election Integrity

The proposed rules (R 168.251-262) systematically dismantle the tools and processes that citizens and clerks have used to identify and address voter registration irregularities. By labeling proven research databases as "unreliable" and creating impossible standards for challenges, Michigan is creating a system that favors maintaining potentially inaccurate voter rolls over ensuring election integrity.

Key concerns include:

Banning effective research tools like Checkmyvote.org and federal citizenship databases
Creating impossible challenge standards requiring expensive notarized affidavits and "personal knowledge"
Expanding protected status to overseas civilians who represent 83% of overseas voters (nor military…contrary to media messaging)
Restricting clerk authority and slowing down legitimate voter registration maintenance by forcing lengthy processes instead of efficient corrections
Silencing citizens and clerks through broadly written anti-harassment provisions
Transferring power to the Secretary of State.
Increasing clerk workload and costs, requiring multiple notice requirements
Creating subjective rules. How will "personal knowledge" and "independent verification" be verified in practice?

Why PIME Members Must Act Now

This ruleset sets a dangerous precedent that could spread to other states. If Michigan succeeds in shutting down citizen oversight, it provides a blueprint for election officials nationwide to insulate themselves from accountability. The rules take effect immediately upon filing, giving citizens only until September 5, 2025, to voice opposition.

Your Action Plan

1. Submit Public Comments Immediately

Deadline: September 5, 2025, 5:00 PM

Send your concerns to:

Email: Elections-PublicComment@Michigan.gov.
Mail: Bureau of Elections, P.O. Box 20126, Lansing, MI 48901-0726

2. Attend the Public Hearing

When: September 5, 2025, 9:30 AM Where: Room 1100, Binsfeld Office Building, 201 Townsend St., Lansing, MI

3. Contact Your Representatives

Use the sample email below to contact Michigan state legislators and US congressional representatives. Demand they pressure the Secretary of State to withdraw these restrictive rules.

Find YOUR Michigan House Representative:

https://www.house.mi.gov/#findARepresentativeForm

Sample Email to Representatives

Subject: Urgent Opposition to Michigan's Restrictive Voter Registration Rules (R 168.251-262)

Dear honorable [Representative Name],

I am writing to express serious concern about the Michigan Department of State's proposed administrative rules (R 168.251-262) regarding voter registration challenges and corrections. These rules fundamentally undermine election integrity efforts and citizen oversight of voter rolls.

The proposed rules:

Eliminate proven research tools by labeling databases like Checkmyvote.org as "unreliable sources," forcing citizens to rely on impossible "personal knowledge" standards
Create prohibitive challenge requirements including separate notarized affidavits for each voter and expensive certified mail processes that effectively end mass challenge capabilities
Grant preferential treatment to overseas civilians (83% of Michigan's overseas voters) by waiving standard identity, citizenship, and residency verification
Restrict clerk authority by forcing lengthy 2-year processes instead of efficient 30-day corrections and centralizing cancellation authority with the Secretary of State
Silence legitimate oversight through broadly written anti-harassment provisions that could label any systematic integrity effort as harassment

These rules take effect immediately upon filing and are clearly designed to insulate the voter registration system from accountability. Citizens deserve transparent, accurate voter rolls maintained through legitimate oversight processes.

I urge you to:

Publicly oppose these restrictive rules
Pressure the Secretary of State to withdraw the proposal
Demand genuine stakeholder input before implementing any changes
Support legislation protecting citizen oversight rights

The public comment period closes September 5, 2025, at 5:00 PM. Please act swiftly to protect election integrity in Michigan.

Thank you for your attention to this critical issue.

Sincerely, [Your Name] [Your Address] [Your Phone Number] [Your Email]

The Bigger Picture

This fight in Michigan is about more than one state's administrative rules. It's about whether citizens and local clerks will retain the ability to ensure election integrity and maintain accurate voter rolls, or whether bureaucratic barriers will shield potentially inaccurate voter rolls from scrutiny. It’s about an SOS power grab.

PIME members have consistently advocated for transparent, accountable election processes. Michigan's proposed rules represent the opposite—a system designed to make citizen oversight as difficult as possible while expanding protections for questionable registrations and the authority of the Secretary of State over the voter rolls.

Time Is Running Out

The comment period ends at 5:00 PM on September 5, 2025. Every PIME member who cares about election integrity must act before this deadline. Submit comments, contact representatives, and if possible, attend the public hearing.

Michigan is testing whether citizen voices matter in election administration. Let's make sure they hear us loud and clear.

Act today. Our Republican Democracy depends on it.

For questions about this alert or to coordinate advocacy efforts, contact PIME leadership at PIME2021@protonmail.com. Share this alert with other election integrity advocates and encourage them to submit comments before the September 5 deadline.