by VICTOR WOODDELL
Capital News Service
LANSING – Former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer says the legal profession and other groups are making efforts to educate the public and raise confidence in this year’s election process.
Archer, a past president of the American Bar Association, said that State Bar of Michigan members have been meeting with local organizations to answer questions and address people’s concerns about election integrity.
“We have been sending lawyers to meetings with community organizations like the Kiwanis Club,” he said.
The State Bar and the Michigan Secretary of State’s office are investing a lot of effort to help ensure that the election goes smoothly, said Archer, who is also a former chief justice of the state Supreme Court.
Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson recently announced nonpartisan voter information tools and election security updates to ensure oters are confident and ready to cast their ballot in the upcoming election.
For example, her office is running a series of social, streaming and print ads as a part of a new “It’s Sooo Simple” early voting campaign.
Benson said the goal of the campaign is to increase awareness of the convenient options available to voters: vote absentee or at an early voting site or on Election Day.
Archer recalled the 2020 presidential election, when there were allegations about voting machine tampering and lawsuits challenging the vote.
“In Wayne County,” he said, “the allegations were so spurious that the judge dropped the case and even cited the attorneys.”
But this year, organizations such as the Defend Democracy Project are taking steps to ensure that the public understands the election process and the steps taken to ensure an accurate vote count, he said.
He referred to a 2021 report by the Republican-led state Senate Oversight Committee that rebutted former President Donald Trump’s voter fraud claims in Michigan.
“Many of their recommendations were adopted,” said Archer, including more time for pre-processing of absentee ballots by county and municipal clerks.
In addition, bar groups have been sending volunteers to speak at local schools.
In the spring, the American Bar Association’s Task Force for American Democracy held a listening session in Detroit about election integrity.
The task force’s report called on lawyers to give talks on the rule of law and democracy, to serve as poll workers, to dispel disinformation and “to reintroduce civility into the public square.”
According to Archer, U.S. schools do not emphasize civics instruction, resulting in a public that is confused and poorly informed.
But that is changing, he said. “Now the curriculum in Michigan schools includes that students know the same information we require of immigrants seeking citizenship.”
Political polarization is one source of public concerns, he said, but many institutions are taking steps to address that situation.
For example the theme at the 2024 Mackinac Policy Conference was “Bridging the Future Together,” which ocused on bridging divides across party, industry and geographic location, he said.
Archer said he is concerned about misinformation promoted on the internet.
“They are telling people the wrong place, the wrong time, that they might get arrested if they vote,” he said. Yet the correct information is also available online, he said, at sites such as the Secretary of State’s Michigan Voter Information Center at https://mvic.sos.state.mi.us/.
“We want to encourage people to get out and vote with confidence,” he said.