{"id":1903604,"date":"2023-03-23T07:27:57","date_gmt":"2023-03-23T11:27:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/michigan-landlords-sue-east-lansing-for-forcing-them-to-provide-voter-registration-materials-to-tenants\/"},"modified":"2023-03-23T07:31:16","modified_gmt":"2023-03-23T11:31:16","slug":"michigan-landlords-sue-east-lansing-for-forcing-them-to-provide-voter-registration-materials-to-tenants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/michigan-landlords-sue-east-lansing-for-forcing-them-to-provide-voter-registration-materials-to-tenants\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan Landlords Sue East Lansing For Forcing Them To Provide Voter Registration Materials To Tenants"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmichigan-landlords-sue-east-lansing-for-forcing-them-to-provide-voter-registration-materials-to-tenants%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1903604&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<figure>                         <\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The Thomas More Society is <a href=\"https:\/\/s4f4x7d5.rocketcdn.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/1-0-Complaint-East-Lansing-Landlord-3-16-23.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">suing<\/a> the city of East Lansing, Michigan for compelling landlords to provide new tenants voter application forms and registration materials. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a blatant violation of landlords\u2019 First Amendment rights,\u201d Thomas More Society Special Counsel Erick Kaardal said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/thomasmoresociety.org\/michigan-landlords-sue-east-lansing-for-forcing-them-to-promote-government-propaganda\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">press release<\/a>. \u201cEast Lansing is out of line. By its city code, East Lansing may impose penalties for a civil infraction upon landlords if they do not convey the cities\u2019 ideological messages about registering to vote to tenants.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The East Lansing ordinance states that \u201cat the time occupancy is given to the tenant, the owner or owner\u2019s legal agent shall provide each tenant with specific information on how to register to vote and the requirements to register\u2026 and a copy of the State of Michigan Voter Registration Application.\u201d The code further says \u201ca violation of this section shall be deemed a civil infraction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kaardal argues that such a law infringes on a landlord\u2019s constitutional right to free speech. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cRegistering to vote is irrelevant to a tenant\u2019s decision to enter into a lease agreement with a landlord,\u201d Kaardal said. \u201cThe First Amendment protects an individual\u2019s right to refrain from speaking just as much as it protects the right to speak freely. Where East Lansing\u2019s interest is to disseminate an ideology or policy related to voting, no matter how acceptable to some, those interests cannot outweigh the First Amendment right to avoid being the courier of the government\u2019s message.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Compelling landlords to provide voter registration materials to new tenants is one way Democrats <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/12\/28\/harvesting-low-effort-votes-is-working-great-for-democrats-so-theyre-going-for-more\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">harvest low-effort votes<\/a>. Other tactics include <a href=\"https:\/\/content.govdelivery.com\/accounts\/MISOS\/bulletins\/2a4effc\">sending <\/a>automatic voter registration forms to all eligible residents, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/12\/14\/democrats-court-their-newest-voting-bloc-high-schoolers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pre-registering teenagers<\/a> to vote, and granting the franchise to felons. <\/p>\n<p>Multiple <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/12\/01\/thank-sam-bankman-fried-for-democrats-2022-ground-game\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">leftist-backed 501(c)(3) organizations<\/a> are solely dedicated to registering low-effort voters. They know such blocs of voters usually lean Democrat and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/442063688\/Mind-the-Gap-s-memo-to-prospective-donors#from_embed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">will show up<\/a> for future elections. <\/p>\n<p>This isn\u2019t the first time a municipality has required landlords to provide voter registration materials to new tenants. In 2020, a federal judge <a href=\"https:\/\/s4f4x7d5.rocketcdn.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/39-Order-3-2-20.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ruled<\/a> a Twin Cities ordinance mandating landlords offer voter registration forms to their tenants was unconstitutional.<\/p>\n<p>The Thomas More Society is suing on behalf of Matthew Hagen, an East Lansing landlord. The suit seeks permanent injunctive relief, preventing the city from enforcing the ordinance.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>   Victoria Marshall is a staff writer at The Federalist. Her writing has been featured in the New York Post, National Review, and Townhall. She graduated from Hillsdale College in May 2021 with a major in politics and a minor in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @vemrshll.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div data-image data-amount=\"5\">\n<h2>Popular<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\"><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\"><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\"><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\"><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\"><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>&#8216;From <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/03\/23\/michigan-landlords-sue-east-lansing-for-forcing-them-to-provide-voter-registration-materials-to-tenants\/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=michigan-landlords-sue-east-lansing-for-forcing-them-to-provide-voter-registration-materials-to-tenants\">&#8220;Michigan Landlords Sue East Lansing For Forcing Them To Provide Voter Registration Materials To Tenants&#8221;<\/a>&#8216;<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><span style=\"font-size:11px\"><em>&#8220;The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author of the article and not necessarily shared or endorsed by Conservative News Daily&#8221;<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Thomas More Society is suing the city of East Lansing, Michigan for compelling landlords to provide new tenants voter application forms and registration materials. \u201cThis is a blatant violation of landlords\u2019 First Amendment rights,\u201d Thomas More Society Special Counsel Erick Kaardal said in a press release. \u201cEast Lansing is out of line. By its<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1130,"featured_media":1903605,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[4186,14729,11474,22572,11676,4601,7373,10577,7170,16153,6459],"class_list":["post-1903604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-east","tag-forcing","tag-landlords","tag-lansing","tag-materials","tag-michigan","tag-provide","tag-registration","tag-sue","tag-tenants","tag-voter"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1903604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1130"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1903604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1903604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1903605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1903604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1903604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1903604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}