In an interview with Newsmax last week, Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers misrepresented how voters in the state can cast their ballot without a photo ID, failing to mention that it is a legally binding affidavit.
During a Performance on 21 August At “Carl Higbie Frontline,” Rogers spoke about suit of the Republican National Committee against Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson over voter roll maintenance when he turned to the state’s voter ID laws.
“And by the way, if you don’t show up with an ID, you can sign a piece of paper that says, ‘No, geez, I’m really…'” Rogers said. “That should make you feel a lot better when you see how this is handled in the state of Michigan. So it’s concerning.”
On Newsmax, Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers misrepresents the election process in his state by saying that people without photo ID can “sign a piece of paper that says, ‘No, geez, I’m really…’ – fill in the blank.”
These voters must sign a legally binding affidavit to… pic.twitter.com/XHSgp7uuFW
— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) 26 August 2024
Rogers also promised that “people for election integrity” would be recruited.
This description of voting without photo ID in Michigan does not mention the precautions and legal steps taken in validating the votes. While the state Department of State encouraged Individuals must bring a photo ID to the polling place if they have one. It is not required. However, to cast a vote without a photo ID, the prospective voter must sign a legally binding affidavit confirming who they are and where they live.
According to the statutory declaration Any false statement thereto is perjury and a felony in Michigan, “punished by a fine of up to $1,000.00 or imprisonment for up to 5 years, or both.”
This is the law in Michigan since 2007and the State Department has since held dozens of elections unopposed. The law was originally a Republican idea to enforce the requirement to show photo ID at polling places, according to Alex Klaus of Outlier Media. Rogers himself won three congressional elections under the photo ID rule.
Rogers’ turn to premature election skepticism is an almost complete reversal from the position the former congressman held just a few years ago. In May, Patrick Marley of the Washington Post wrote: profiled Rogers’ attitude changed from frank that the 2020 election was legitimate in order to either sow doubt about it or avoid the issue altogether.
“Rogers had previously called the election ‘free and fair’ and compared Trump to a ‘gangster’ for pressuring Georgia election officials to find more votes for him,” Marley wrote. “Rogers, who is now running for Senate with Trump’s support, has tried to get to the point quickly when asked about those views in media interviews.”
Marley pointed out that all this came at the same time as an endorsement from former President Donald Trump, the country’s most prominent election denier.
“When Rogers had to run in a Republican primary in August, he sought and won Trump’s endorsement in March,” Marley wrote. “Since then, Rogers has not always been as forthright as he has been in the past about his views on the 2020 election.”
The article mentions Rogers’ prediction of a Democratic fraud in a Detroit News comment from January and his evasion of the question during a WJR 760AM Radio interview in April, where he said he had “answered it a hundred times.”
The Michigan Democratic Party condemned Rogers’ Newsmax comments in a statement released on August 23 opinion.
“If you can’t beat them, you’re spreading conspiracy theories about elections…?” the party asked. “Rogers is (once again) promoting dangerous election conspiracy theories and questioning the integrity of our election system, saying it is ‘really very concerning to us.'”
