Congressman Mike Rogers, listing off the reasons why students should be prevented from voting at all costs

Today, I arose in the wee hours of the morning, boosted Scot Launius’ Sunfire (but I left him with a full tank of gas so it’s alright), and embarked on a solo trip to Lansing to testify in front of the House Committee on Ethics and Elections. My purpose was to speak in support of two bills introduced by Rebekah Warren, HB 4373-4374. These bills, if passed and signed into law, would essentially repeal Roger’s Law. For those who are out of staters or are just unfamiliar with Roger’s Law, it was a bill introduced by the lovely then State Senator Mike Rogers to require the address on your drivers license to match the address on your voter registration card.

This bill, while seemingly innocuous, targets students who wish to register to vote in their school locations. A charming gentlemen from Terry Land’s office made it clear that you do not have to make two trips to do this, so it isn’t really that much of an inconvenience. In addition, the old way of doing things, where you could register to vote while maintaining your permanent address at your parents’ domicile, was far too complicated for the like of the Michigan Secretary of State’s office. The chairwoman of the committee, Majority Leader Kathy Angerer was good enough to point out that several states, like New York who have a large portion of the population without a license, are quite capable of handling the system of differentiated addresses. Now, these two bills have already passed the House before, shortly after which they died in the Senate thanks to Mike Bishop never giving them a vote, but the fight goes on to correct the injustice created by Roger’s Law, despite Mr. Bishop’s efforts.

Inconveniences and paper work aside, this law is an assault on student voters. The suppression of a demographic that is likely to support your opponent at the polls is about as slimy as you can get. Several of us are active in Voice Your Vote because anyone with an interest in a healthy democratic process will register as many voters possible, no matter their party identification. Elections should be won and lost on the campaign trail, not in the committee room, and many have accused Mike Rogers of using this bill to boost his chances to win in his first US House election. Is it a coincidence that he introduced Roger’s Law in the waning years of his final term in the Michigan Senate, as he eyed the 8 Congressional seat? Is it a coincidence that new voter registration fell by 11% in East Lansing (part of the 8th District) in 2002, the first election in which the law was implemented? Is it telling that Mike Roger’s only won his first election by 111 votes? I’ll let you decide for yourself, but the answers are yes, yes, and hell yes. It is time to get this disgraceful piece of disenfranchising legislation off the books. When we’re done getting rid of his law, let’s do the same to Rogers.