The Michigan Democrats will play a vital role in the program, said Jason Moon, spokesman for Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer.

“Over the past several election cycles, there has been intimidation and an attempt to disenfranchise voters and block their right to vote,” Moon said. “We want to make sure voters know their rights, and make it as successful as possible.”

According to the Michigan Democratic Party, though election laws are written on both state and federal levels, local governments have leeway in their interpretation. Those differences can lead to inconsistencies that could threaten voter’s rights, Moon said.

Part of the reason the Michigan Democratic Party is throwing its support behind the program is because voter suppression is nothing new to the state, Moon said.

“Republicans will send challengers to polls to dissuade people from voting,” he said. “They had challengers in Detroit for the 2005 mayoral race, and there wasn’t even a Republican on the ballot. They said it was a dry run.”

Despite allegations, the Michigan Republican Party has done nothing to suppress the vote, said Sarah Anderson director or research and communications for the party.

“(Democrats) make the same accusation every year,” Anderson said. “The last thing we’d do is intimidate voters.”

In 2006, Anderson said, the party went out of the way to leave their election practices open to the media. They also invited their biggest detractors, including Brewer and the NAACP to hold a joint effort to ensure free and fair elections. After the 2004 election, the NAACP threatened to file complaints because of perceived voter suppression. Both Brewer and the NAACP declined the invitation, she said.

“We’ve gone to great lengths to make sure there’s transparency in our election day operations, and any accusations that we are doing something unethical or fraudulent are unequivocally wrong,” Anderson said.

While she said she would not comment on the Democrat’s plan, Anderson criticized Brewer for the Democrat’s stance on required voter photo ID, which Democrats claim disenfranchises some potential voters, such as students and low-income workers.

“Brewer talks out of both sides of his mouth,” Anderson said.

He claims that voter IDs are unnecessary because there is no voter fraud, yet maintains that there are forces actively trying to defraud the voting process, she added.

While he had never heard of voter suppression occurring in Michigan, Paul Abramson, professor of political science and an expert in national elections and voter turnout, said that vote suppression had occurred in other states by Republicans, such as in Florida and Ohio.

“It’s not unheard of, but that doesn’t mean there were similar attempts in Michigan,” Abramson said.