Bill could fine clerks, Secretary of State for sharing election info on social media
LANSING, Mich. — A new bill going through the Michigan Legislature could have state clerks and the Secretary of State's office hit with a fine for using social media to share election-related information.
Senate Bill 305 would prevent the name or likeness of an elected or appointed official from being used on communication about election activity that was paid for with public money. Anyone who violates the rule, if it became law, would be fined $100 for a first offense and $250 for a second offense.
The bill was one of the 39 election bills introduced by Michigan Senate Republicans that Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has been opposing.
“Limiting our ability to most directly impact voters - and social media is one of the most direct ways that we can reach voters in a short period of time if we’re low-cost or no-cost - really hampers our ability to do our jobs as the chief voter educators throughout the state and throughout our communities,” said Benson.
The bill directly called on the Secretary of State, city and county clerks, focusing on most of the ways those offices reach voters, including mail, billboard, and social media posts.
Benson said, if passed, the bill would set up the state to have to deal with even more misinformation.
“The bill, which would again muzzle the most trusted voices, the most reliable voices countering misinformation at a time when we really need all of our clerks,” she said.
Even some Senate Republicans said there was confusion about what the bill actually means. State Senator Ed McBroom, R-Vulcan, is the Senate Elections Majority Vice-Chair.
“I’m pretty sure that the intention of 305 isn’t to disallow the sharing of critical information such as times polls are open, locations, things like that, it’s about saying that they can’t utilize taxpayer funds to campaign and cover that up under the guise of just sharing that information,” McBroom said.
Still, the bill lists things like voting, registering to vote, absentee ballots, and polling locations as things that couldn't be shared under those circumstances. It is also unclear if things like social media accounts use taxpayer funds at all. Many election officials also have multiple social media accounts for each platform.
When asked about Benson's Twitter account specifically, and if she would be able to tweet things like if a new polling location opened up in a county, McBroom said "That certainly to me is not an essential - or something that appears to be a conflict.”
The bill, which has not been addressed in committee yet, was sponsored by state Sen. Dale Zorn, R-Ida, and co-sponsored by state Sens. Kenneth Horn, R-Frankenmuth; Lana Theis, R-Brighton; and Jim Stamas, R-Midland.
McBroom said the bill would go through changes to clear up the language when it goes through committee.
"Despite any author's intentions or the drafter's best research, somebody else always reads the sentence a little differently with a different inflection and suddenly it means something else and makes it obvious that there's more work to do," he said.
