AP Political Writer

4:23 PM CDT, September 18, 2008

LANSING, Mich.

A student group and the state American Civil Liberties Union are suing the state of Michigan over voting registration practices they say could disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court in Detroit, says Michigan is too quick to remove people from voting rolls if they get driver's licenses in other states or if their voter registration cards are returned as undeliverable.

The groups argue the secretary of state's office must confirm a person has moved to another state before removing him or her from the rolls. They also say federal law allows voters to remain on the rolls for at least two federal elections after their registration cards are returned.

But a spokeswoman for the secretary of state's office said Michigan has been cleaning up its voter lists for decades using these methods without any opposition. Kelly Chesney said the office had not been served with the lawsuit by the end of business Thursday.

"It appears that they are challenging Michigan's Motor Voter Law -- passed in 1975 -- that later served as a model for the (1993) National Voter Registration Act," Chesney said.

The plaintiffs in the case are the United States Student Association and the ACLU of Michigan. The parties have asked the federal court to schedule a hearing as soon as possible and to enter an immediate temporary injunction barring more purges under those programs.

"With Michigan set to be one of the most important battleground states in this election and turnout predicted to be the highest in state history, we are going to do everything we can to make sure that every vote counts and that nobody is illegally purged from the voter rolls," ACLU of Michigan executive director Kary Moss said in a statement released Thursday.

Jonathan Doster of USSA said "it's just not fair to deny someone the right to vote just because they are an out-of-state student or they don't get a piece of mail."

The suit was filed against Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land, state elections director Chris Thomas and Ypsilanti City Clerk Frances McMullen.

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EDITOR's NOTE: Kathy Barks Hoffman heads the Lansing AP bureau and has covered Michigan politics since 1986.

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