Reform Michigan: No-Reason Absentee Voting

I just stumbled across an editorial from the Lansing State (July 10, 2008 edition) which brings out a very simple point about no-reason absentee voting.  It notes that in the Reform Michigan NOW ballot proposal, on section creates no reason absentee voting.  Well, why can’t the legislature just do it?  They have tried in the past and yet nothing has ever been able to make it to law.  Below is an excert:

In Michigan, unless you are a senior citizen, you are required to provide a proper reason for requesting a ballot before Election Day.

This is an impediment to voting – and unfair. Why should senior citizens be given a voting option denied to younger voters?

Year after year, legislation is filed at the State Capitol to alter the law. Quite a few of these bills, some backed by Democrats, some by Republicans, would authorize “no-reason” balloting. If any registered voter wants an absentee ballot, they can get it – without giving a reason.

Yet the bills have invariably gone nowhere.

… (read the entire editorial)

I don’t think it’s a secret to anyone who knows me that I tend to like the Lansing State Journal – and it’s these kinds of editorials that make me like them!

The Great Lakes Compact

Great Lakes Basin area

There has been a lot of talk about the Great Lakes Compact in recent days, and I have seen a lot of traffic because.  But people seem to be having trouble finding what it actually says and what it would do.  So, in my nerdiness, I searched through Michigan Legislative records and discovered the bill which was passed in Michigan the other week enacting the compact.  You have find it here.  If for some reason the link doesn’t work for you, it is Michigan State House Bill 4343 (2007) as enrolled in June 26, 2008.  The legislative search tool is www.legislature.mi.gov.  I would suggest actually looking at the legislative analysis since it is the most comprehensive and easier to understand.

I hope this helps those of you who are still looking!

UPDATE: I happened to stumble across the actual agreement just now.  You can find it here.

The Greatest of the Great Lakes

In honor of the Great Lakes Compact, here are some pictures of Lake Superior from where I used to live in Marquette, MI.  Obviously, I have an attachment to Lake Superior … it is the best lake afterall!

Winter Storm in March 2007

Dock on Lake Superior, Marquette

I’m STANDING in the snow on top of the Lake, March 2007

Lake Superior from somewhere in Marquette

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PS.  I’m far from a professional photographer -

Why politics?

Ok, so I found some free time much sooner than I had anticipated… don’t get the idea that I’ll be on here every day; actually try to avoid getting the perception that I will even be on here every other day.  It’s ok to assume every third day, but I’m not making any promises.

So, anyone who knows me gets that I am a HUGE political junkie.  Well, maybe HUGE in all caps isn’t the right word (lwe should just go with ‘huge’ in all lower case) … I know some people who are obessive political junkies and they are much worse than me.  People ask me all the time ‘Why do you care so much?’ and I generally go into some rant on whatever I am angry about that day and it tends to just go over their heads since I think they know just as much about politics as me (which is almost always not correct).  To be honest, I am not sure exactly what drives me to care so much, but I have a theory.