Secretary Benson submits testimony defending freedom to vote, secure drop box access

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. (Photo courtesy michigan.gov)

LANSING -- Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson submitted testimony to the state Senate Elections Committee today, May 5, denouncing legislation from the chamber’s 39-bill voter suppression package being taken up this afternoon. Her testimony emphasized the policies and procedures that made the November 2020 election secure and successful were embraced again yesterday in local elections across the state.

"Throughout the day I saw steady streams of voters using drop boxes on Election Day and spoke with clerks and election workers still dissatisfied with the insufficient time provided under current law to preprocess absentee ballots," Benson stated. "Yet today the bills before you would ban the use of drop boxes on Election Day and continue to restrict preprocessing for our clerks."

Of the legislation being discussed in committee today, Benson’s testimony noted the impact of Senate Bill 286, which would ban the use of drop boxes on Election Day, the day they are most used and needed. Similarly, Senate Bill 273 would enable county canvassers -- who are selected by the political parties they represent -- to entirely prohibit the use of drop boxes in their counties.

Senate Bill 334 also ignores the requests of clerks and continues to provide only 10 hours for limited absentee ballot processing, despite the fact that after the November election the state Senate Majority Leader and Speaker of the House both admitted this was insufficient.

Finally, Senate Bill 311 would unnecessarily restrict the right of electronic ballot return among military servicemembers overseas to those who have a specific and notoriously unreliable military credential, and would exclude military spouses altogether.

"As I saw across the state yesterday, in every community I visited, nearly all ballots were being cast absentee and drop boxes were in use the entire day. Voters have embraced the policies that have worked so well in our elections these last two years," said Benson. "This committee risks doing tremendous harm to voters’ faith in our elections and the strength of our democracy by undoing or decreasing access to those policies."

A copy of Secretary Benson’s testimony can be found here.

Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin prevails in another legal victory against Back Forty Mine

By Michele Bourdieu
With information from Earthjustice

This January 2021 photo of the Menominee River was taken near the Menominee Tribe's sacred sites and the proposed site of the Back 40 mine. (Photo © and courtesy Tina Lesperance, member of the Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River)

LANSING --  A recent Court decision has created even more uncertainty about the fate of the Back Forty mine, a proposed open-pit mine on the border of Michigan and Wisconsin that has prompted strong opposition from the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin because it would release toxic pollution into the Tribe’s namesake river and threaten a landscape of historic and cultural resources including dance rings, garden mounds, and burial mounds.

This ancestral burial mound near the Menominee River is among the archaeological sites that could be impacted by the proposed Back 40 mine. (Keweenaw Now file photo) 

To learn more, join "Watershed to Watershed: Lessons from the Back 40 Mine Resistance," an online discussion with activists supporting the Menominee Tribe in opposing the Back 40. It will take place on Zoom Tuesday, May 4. (See below for details.)

On April 23, 2021, Michigan Circuit Court Judge Hon. Wanda M. Stokes ordered an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) to reconsider his 2019 decision approving a mining permit for Aquila Resources’ Back Forty Project. In this order, the judge remanded the mining permit decision for reconsideration, directing that the ALJ admit additional evidence including documented concerns from Michigan environmental regulators regarding flawed groundwater modeling.

Open-pit sulfide ore mines, like the one proposed on the banks of the Menominee River, can result in acid mine drainage -- a toxic runoff problem that is nearly impossible to remediate.

The mining permit is one of several needed by Aquila to proceed with the Back Forty mine. A second permit, which would allow for the destruction of surrounding wetlands, was denied in January following a separate legal challenge.* Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law firm, has represented the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin for several years in its bid to stop the Back Forty mine.

"We are encouraged by the news that the mining permit must now be reconsidered," said Gunnar Peters, chairman of Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin. "And we will not stop fighting until these waters, lands, and sacred sites are protected for good."

Judge Stokes has ordered that evidence against the wetlands permit, especially concerning the groundwater model, is relevant to the decision in the mining permit contested case.

The January 2021 denial of the wetlands permit and this April 23 order to reconsider the 2019 mining permit decision, make two victories for the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin in their fight against the Back 40 mine.

"With one permit denied, this ruling means a second permit needed for this mine to advance now hangs in the balance," said Gussie Lord, an Earthjustice attorney who directs the organization’s Tribal Partnerships program. "We will continue to defend this cherished river on behalf of the Menominee Tribe, and we look forward to the day when we can say we have halted this project."

Jeff Budish, a member of the Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River and a Michigan resident who has spoken out against the Back 40 mine at public hearings, commented via Facebook on this news from Earthjustice, indicating the Coalition's support for the Menominee Tribe.

"WE The people of the Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River WILL NEVER stop. The Menominee WIndian Nation ARE very Strong People," Budish said.

Duluth for Clean Water to host "Watershed to Watershed: Lessons from the Back 40 Mine Resistance" May 4 on Zoom

Duluth for Clean Water invites the public to an online discussion with organizers resisting the Back Forty Mine, at 7:30 p.m. EDT (6:30 p.m. CDT) on Tuesday, May 4, via Zoom.

Organizers sharing on this panel and discussion include the following:

Dr. Al Gedicks -- emeritus professor of environmental sociology at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and executive secretary of the Wisconsin Resources Protection Council.**
Anahkwet Guy Reiter -- community organizer, activist, author, amateur archaeologist, lecturer and executive director of Menominee Indian community organization Menīkānaehkem, Inc.
Kathleen M. Heideman -- writer, artist and environmentalist working in Michigan's wild Upper Peninsula and member of the Mining Action Group (part of UPEC, the Upper Peninsula Environmental Coalition).
Dale Burie -- President of the Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River, Inc.

Join Zoom Meeting HERE.

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* See our Jan. 11, 2021, article, "Water protectors celebrate judge's denial of Back 40 sulfide mine Wetlands Permit."

** See this recent article by Al Gedicks: "Fight Over Proposed Mine by Menominee River has Brought Together Unlikely Allies," on Earth Island Journal.