Michigan Lt. Gov. Claims Voter ID Laws Are Voter Suppression

Michigan’s Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist went after Georgia’s decision to have voter ID to vote. Gilchrist pushed this as a minority voter suppression to claim that Republicans do not want people who look like him voting which is ridiculous.

Republicans are scared of people who look like us voting, right? And that’s happened at a level that it hasn’t happened in a really ever actually in this past presidential election. And they so scared that they decided, you know, we don’t want [minorities] to vote anymore,” the Lt. Gov. said.

Lt. Gov. Gilchrist has posted to Twitter, “In 2020, Republicans tried to overturn my vote as a Detroiter. Now, as they try to take away other Michiganders’ right to vote, you better believe I’ve got something to say about it.”

The Lt. Gov. also said, “And in 2018 not only did voters make it easier for people to vote, which less than three years later, Republicans are trying to take away. But y’all also elected a Democratic governor named Gretchen Whitmer and a Democrat lieutenant governor named Garland Gilchrist. So guess what? Even if the legislature passed that stuff, we will not let it come into law.”

“So I expect the Republicans to try to play some games to try to get around that power that the people of Michigan gave us. And we’re prepared to respond to that. But voter suppression has no place in our state because we believe that everybody should have, not only have the right to vote, but actually be able to do so. I want more people to vote! More people to vote is good for democracy. It’s good for our society. It’s good for our economy. It’s good for making sure people have rights. I want that. I’m not afraid of that. And any elected official who was afraid of people voting you cannot trust,” the governor continued.

Governor Gretchen Whiter said, “Well, I mean, this is what we’re seeing, I think, what? Forty-three states across the country, we have got Republican legislation that’s moving to make it harder for people to vote. We just came through a historic free, fair election. There were no-. There was not fraud the way that this big lie perpetuated and fed into people’s anxieties and inspired the unthinkable on January 6th or the unthinkable for the rest of the world. We saw some of that happen here in Michigan earlier. But the fact of the matter is, these are this is a solution in search of a problem and it is unacceptable. And so if and when those bills get to my desk and they’re aimed at making it harder for people to vote, they will get vetoed.”