Should people in California and New York decide who becomes president?
If you said “no,” you should say the same thing if you’re asked to sign a petition calling for Michigan’s electoral college votes to go to the winner of the national popular vote, said MFB Government Relations Specialist Matt Kapp.
The state board of canvassers recently approved summary language for a ballot initiative that would add Michigan to a coalition of states that want to send their electoral votes to whichever presidential candidate receives the most votes nationally.
That means you could soon see well-paid canvassers outside of places like grocery stores and sporting events asking people to be one of the 340,047 signatures the group behind the petition need to get it on a future ballot — or make state lawmakers decide on it.
“To be clear, this is not a grassroots effort,” Kapp said.
“This is a proposal funded by wealthy elites from the coasts who are spending tremendous amounts of money to get this on Michigan’s ballot — and they’ve been trying to do it for more than 15 years.”
The group behind the initiative is funneling so much money to politicians from both sides of the aisle that many supporting the measure are essentially become paid lobbyists, according to Kapp.
In fact — the group is so well-funded that they have money to pay canvassers for each signature they collect. That means they’ll do almost anything they can to get someone to sign onto it, going as far as to switch up their message once they figure out a person’s political leanings.
“If you’re a democratic voter, they’ll say, ‘This initiative would have gotten Al Gore and Hillary Clinton elected,’ because they both won the popular vote,” Kapp said.
“On the flipside, if you support conservatives, they’ll tell you that their proposal would make it so that people in heavily right-leaning states like Wyoming get attention from candidates, because they would need as many votes as possible.”
In reality: Under the proposal, metropolitan areas on the East and West coasts would have a massive advantage in picking the president, while rural America’s voice gets silenced.
And that’s exactly what they want, Kapp said.
“They’re snake oil salesmen, plain and simple. Many of the big names supporting the plan are not behind this because they believe in it, they’re pushing it because they’re being paid to,” he said.
Those backing the petition have tried in the past to get Michigan Farm Bureau’s endorsement of the plan — and been rejected by Farm Bureau policy, driven by MFB’s policy development committee, which thoroughly studied the proposal.
“Unlike the group behind this ballot initiative, Michigan Farm Bureau’s stance is a true grassroots effort, with delegates voting on the policy at our State Annual Meeting,” Kapp said.
“We urge our members, and anyone who supports Michigan having a say in who sits in the Oval Office, to not sign this petition.”
Share Story
Article Tags
