State Rep. Ann Bollin today said the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Administrative Rules has succeeded in its push for greater security measures in some of Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s proposed election rules.

Bollin, of Brighton Township, also expressed frustration with Benson’s continued attempt to let voters apply for absentee ballots online.

“I’m glad Secretary Benson is finally listening to the concerns I share with many others about her attempt to erode the state’s signature matching standards,” Bollin said. “The many comments we received from the public helped us pressure her to backtrack on her proposal to weaken one of the most important election security safeguards.”

Michigan law requires absentee voters to complete and sign an application to receive a ballot. The signed form is compared to the signature in the voter’s file for validation. Last year, Benson proposed administrative rules to require local election officials to review signatures on absentee applications and ballots starting with a presumption that the signature is valid. She also proposed a rule to maintain the online absentee application she launched in June 2020, which allows any voter to request a ballot without physically signing the application.

Bollin, chair of the House Elections and Ethics Committee, led an effort to collect comments from hundreds of people who shared her concern that Benson’s proposed rules would compromise the integrity of Michigan elections. Those comments were submitted to the Secretary of State. Last month, JCAR also submitted a request asking Benson to strike the signature verification standards from her proposal.

On Friday, Benson said she would be making changes to her proposed rules in light of the committee’s suggestions. She indicated she would remove the language requiring officials to review signatures “beginning with the presumption that the voter’s signature is his or her genuine, valid signature.”

Benson refused to revise her proposal to keep the online application she created in 2020, which allows people applying online to use the stored digital signature on file with the Secretary of State or upload their own version.

“Requiring an original ink signature gives our election officials something they can use to verify that a ballot is being mailed to the correct person. That safeguard disappears if a digital signature is relied upon the way Benson decided to do in 2020,” Bollin said. “Clerks across the state reached out to me at that time because they were concerned about both the signature verification directive and the direction provided by Benson allowing voters to attach a digital signature or submit a photo of their signed application. Many were cut off, illegible, or duplicates of already completed applications. It caused all kinds of confusion.”

Bollin said the House already has legislation in the works that would prohibit the use of electronic signatures to request absentee ballots in Michigan.

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