STATEMENT: Election Defense Coalition's Response to Racist Voter Intimidation in Detroit

Statement from Election Defense Coalition: Amid Racist Voter Intimidation in Detroit, “Michiganders have each others’ backs”

Michiganders know that for democracy to work for all of us, every voter must have our voice heard and our vote counted. We believe that ordinary people are the ones who must determine our future, not any politician or political party.

But instead of respecting the will of the people, a handful of rightwing politicians and MAGA-aligned groups have spent months planning to silence and intimidate Black voters in Detroit. We see their desperation for what it is. And we’re ready to mobilize with the same spirit of popular determination and unity that we have in the past. We’re turning out in high numbers this year, and demanding that every vote be counted and that the will of the people prevail.

We should remember that this is the same tired playbook used by the same bad actors to silence Black voters from 2020, when MAGA Republicans on the Wayne County Board of Canvassers tried to throw out the votes of Black voters in Detroit. We should be clear and unflinching about what this is: an attempt by a desperate handful of wannabe authoritarians to divide and distract us, to sow chaos and confusion about our elections so that they can overthrow the will of the people and claim power to enact their unpopular agenda.

It’s important that everyone remember the lessons from two years ago. When MAGA Republicans pulled out all the stops to attempt to steal the 2020 election with viciously racist attacks on Black Detroiters, thousands of Michiganders from every corner of the state rose up, from Detroit to Hancock, Grand Rapids to Marquette, Ann Arbor to Traverse City, and many in between, with a single, fiercely determined roar: that the board must do its one job and certify the results. After enormous public pressure, that’s exactly what they did.

The bottom line is this: Michiganders have each others’ backs. And Detroiters won’t be silenced or intimidated. Voters will decide this election, and what type of future we’ll have.

###