Trump, GOP challenge Michigan voter registration rule

Former President Donald Trump’s campaign along with the Republican National Committee and the Michigan Republican Party filed a federal lawsuit Monday challenging state voter registration rules.

The lawsuit says Gov. Gretchen Whitmer expanded voter registration locations without getting required approval from the Legislature and did so to benefit Democrats.  The governor issued directives that designated federal Small Business Administration and Department of Veterans Affairs offices as voter registration sites.

The complaint says that “injures the Trump Campaign, the RNC, and MRP as well as their members, voters, and candidates by undermining confidence in the integrity of the electoral process and discouraging participation in the democratic process, which will harm the electoral prospects of Republican candidates.”

“We are reviewing the lawsuit,” said Whitmer Communications Director Bobby Leddy in an e-mail.

Less circumspect was Mark Brewer, an attorney and former Michigan Democratic Party chair.

“This is part of their overall strategy of creating confusion and churn and making it look like there’s some problem with the election system when there’s not,” he said. 

He predicted the lawsuit would be dismissed by a federal judge, although that could be appealed.

“The governor, the secretary of state, state government have broad authority under federal and state law to register voters,” he said. “And that’s all this is. It’s giving people the opportunity to register to vote and participate in democracy.”

The complaint filed with the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Michigan says the state’s rules undermine confidence in elections, will disadvantage Republican candidates, and divert resources from those offices’ core functions.

Efforts to interview with the RNC, the Michigan Republican Party and the Trump campaign were not successful.