West Central Michigan News

City of Niles issued the following announcement on Apr 1.

All registered voters in the City of Niles will be receiving a new Voter ID card indicating any changes.

These cards will be mailed out as soon as the State of Michigan Bureau of Elections has completed the changes in the Qualified Voter File (QVF) and our City elections staff has verified all changes.

The City Clerk is required by law to mail voter cards out to all voters whose status is listed as:  active, verify and challenged, in the Qualified Voter File.  Please reference:  MCL 168.499(3).  While this may seem redundant, the law requires it.

Please note that you may receive a voter ID card for someone that was at one time registered to vote at the address, but no longer resides at said address.  The most common reason this happens is because voters either:  moved and did not change their address on their MI driver’s license or they have moved out of state and did not inform the SOS or their local clerk.

Under the law, a Clerk is only authorized to cancel a voter’s registration under the following circumstances:

• The voter directs the cancellation of his or her registration record in a written, signed communication.
• The clerk receives or obtains information that the voter has died. Sources: QVF inbox notification; county clerk; death notices published in newspaper; personal firsthand knowledge.
• The clerk receives notice that the voter has registered to vote in another jurisdiction through another election official or through a QVF inbox notification.
• The voter verifies his or her residency in a different jurisdiction for voting purposes on a confirmation notice sent to the voter on “reliable information” that the voter has moved to a different jurisdiction.
• The voter’s registration is challenged and it is revealed through questions directed to the voter in the polls on Election Day that he or she is not qualified to vote in the jurisdiction.

If no response is received, the voter does not participate in an election, and the voter does not engage in another voting or voter registration transaction by the second November General federal election following the notice, the voter’s registration is canceled without further notice. Until the time the registration is canceled by one of the means above, we are by law required to send any notice of voting location/district changes to all active, verify and challenged voters.

Have any questions?  Give our City Clerk Tina Bergman a call at 269-683-4700 ext. 3030.

Original source can be found here.