Today in the notebook
- Young voters ‘turned off’ by Palestinian deaths
- Social media disinformation looms large
- What to know about voter rolls
- Survey shows why Detroiters don’t vote
Welcome back. I’m still Malachi Barrett.
Last week I attended the National Press Foundation’s Elections Journalism Fellowship here in Detroit. We heard from election officials and other figures about potential threats to the 2024 election.
The Rev. Dr. Wendell Anthony, leader of the Detroit branch of the NAACP, said he’s seen renewed enthusiasm from voters after Vice President Kamala Harris replaced President Joe Biden at the top of the ticket.
“I’ve not seen excitement like this since Obama, I think it’s even more,” Anthony said.
Anthony said Harris is inspiring young voters who “now want to get in the game.” But he also said the campaign has a problem with young voters who are deeply concerned about the Biden-Harris administration’s role in Palestinian suffering.
“What they see is death and bombing,” Anthony said. “My grandmother said two wrongs don’t make no right. What we see in Gaza is not right. The young people are not wrong for calling that out.”
Harris is scheduled to visit Detroit on Aug. 7 for her first campaign rally as a presidential candidate. The Wednesday rally is an opportunity for Harris to speak to voters who are pushing for a permanent cease-fire and an embargo on military support for Israel.
Anthony said “a lot of young people are turned off” by civilian casualties caused by Israel in Gaza and can’t look past it.
Anthony described himself as a supporter of Israel who doesn’t support Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and compared the Israeli leader to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“It’s hard to beat up Putin and what he’s doing in Ukraine and not say nothing about what’s going on in Gaza,” Anthony said.
Keep reading for more insights I gathered from the NPF event in Detroit.
Election disinformation thrives online
Attorney General Nessel said social media companies are less receptive to taking down posts with false claims compared to previous elections.
Her office had a tight relationship with social media companies in 2020, often being able to encourage Facebook, YouTube or TikTok to remove posts after one phone call.
“I don’t know that that is going to be the case this time,” Nessel said.
“I think we’re going to have to educate the public to only look at trusted sources … It’s just gonna have to be a conversation that we have with the public about not believing everything they hear, or in this case, everything that they see.”
Nessel voiced concerns about misinformation amplified by Elon Musk, a supporter of President Donald Trump and billionaire who owns X.
Musk has used the platform to spread misleading information, sometimes in violation of X’s own policies.
In the last week, Musk posted a fake video of Harris in a mock campaign ad, falsely claimed Harris is ineligible to run for office and claimed non-citizens are being “imported” to vote.
“I’m seeing manipulated images each and every day,” Nessel said. “Those images are going to be everywhere and can define a campaign.”
David Becker, founder of The Center for Election Innovation and Research, labeled Musk as the “number one super-spreader of election disinformation in the world.”
Panic buttons, war room among security upgrades
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said her office is rolling out a “panic button type of communication” for election workers to report issues to law enforcement.
The text alert system, Benson said, is being tested in the August primary election and should be ready for full implementation by the November general election. Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey said the system hasn’t been needed in Detroit.
Benson said the idea came out of planning exercises held across the state. Clerks, law enforcement and first responders are practicing their response to various hypothetical scenarios.
Nessel said her office is setting up a “war room” on Election Day to monitor illegal activities. People are encouraged to report suspicious activity at polling locations to (517) 335-0800.
Federal funding delivered to Michigan through the CARES Act has helped pay for election security improvements, like the installation of bulletproof glass at polling sites.
What to know about voter registration lists
Officials said easing barriers to voting can be achieved while protecting election integrity, despite concerns about the accuracy of Michigan’s list of qualified voters.
There are more registered voters than people who are of voting age, both in Michigan and in Detroit. The data shows there aren’t more votes being cast than people, but the situation inspired multiple lawsuits from right-wing groups seeking to clean up Michigan’s voter registration database.
Michigan has roughly 8.3 million registered voters and 7.9 million residents over 18. The Department of Elections argues that comparing census estimates with voter registration data provided by the state “creates the appearance of a higher population being registered to vote than actual numbers would support.”
Roughly 11% of registered voters are inactive (928,846 total), which means they haven’t voted in six years or confirmed residency information. Inactive voters are put on another list that begins a process of canceling their registration.
Voter registrations are canceled when someone moves out of their voting jurisdiction, dies, or requests to cancel their registration. Election officials must wait two federal election cycles before canceling registrations of people who may have moved.
Ahead of the 2020 election, absentee ballot applications were sent to every registered voter in Michigan. This allowed election officials to identify voters who have outdated addresses. Voters who don’t update their address will have their registration canceled after two federal elections.
Automatic voter registration laws in Michigan allow information to be updated when a driver’s license or state ID is changed.
One lawsuit was dismissed this year after a federal judge found Michigan is consistently among the most active states in canceling the registrations of dead people. Michigan was in the top six states for removing registrations after people died in elections dating back to 2016.
The Republican National Committee filed a lawsuit this year claiming Benson hasn’t made reasonable efforts to remove ineligible voters as required by the National Voter Registration Act. Benson said large voter rolls don’t indicate voter fraud is occurring, and the state is complying with the law to remove ineligible voters.
The state is set to clear 521,116 inactive voters from the rolls in 2025, according to court documents. Michigan canceled more than 800,000 voter registrations since 2019.
Survey explores why Detroiters don’t vote
The University of Michigan partnered with Outlier Media to poll Detroiters on election issues. Survey results released last week show roughly 12% of Detroit’s population are unlikely to vote in the November general election.
The poll surveyed 1,100 Detroit residents in April. It found Latino Detroiters are far less likely to vote (24%), especially if they speak Spanish (33%).
Most Detroiters don’t plan to vote either because they don’t trust the political system (26%) or because they don’t like the candidates (21%).
The report suggests people who don’t vote aren’t uninformed. Only 7% were uninterested in voting and only 5% didn’t have enough information. Two-thirds of unlikely voters contributed to their communities in some other way.
It also found that 30% of people who are unlikely to vote in November have previously voted in past presidential elections.
Clerks avoid endorsing candidates
Michigan clerks are elected officials who run as partisan candidates, which has raised some concerns about the impact of party politics on election integrity.
Benson, a Democrat, said she will avoid “outwardly endorsing” presidential candidates when overseeing their elections. She appeared at Biden’s July 12 rally in Detroit to promote voter participation but did not mention the president by name.
Benson said she’d do the same if asked to join Trump for a rally in Michigan. However, Benson said she won’t shy away from calling out false claims.
“I have a responsibility as the chief democracy officer of the state of Michigan to communicate to citizens what I see as threats to democracy,” Benson said.
Justin Roebuck, a Republican clerk of Ottawa County, said he decided to “never endorse anybody” on the ballot during an election he’s overseeing. Roebuck said it’s a good practice to avoid the appearance of bias.
