State Rep. Jaime Greene today voted against Democrat legislation that would strip away verification and validity measures that were specifically enacted to prevent fraud.

Senate Bills 603-04 amend Michigan Election Law by making several misguided changes to the state’s recount process. Under current law, vote recounts may be done based on allegations of fraud or mistake, but the legislation voted on today not only removes fraud as a reason for a recount, but also states that recount petitions may only allege an error and requires petitions to be based on the notion that the election results would have been different without that error.

Greene said it’s a mistake to tamper with the clear checks and balances in state law that give citizens faith in the trustworthiness of poll workers, clerks and election results.

“Watering down protections is counterproductive when several red flags have arisen within the state’s elections process,” Greene said. “For example, there being no system to tell if someone votes in multiple states, a real issue facing the state of Michigan as evidenced by the Secretary of State removing some 170,000 people no longer living here from our voter rolls only after she was sued.”

Despite Greene and other Republicans’ objections, Senate Bill 603 was approved and moves to the Senate for concurrence.

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