Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson this week announced a new Election Modernization Advisory Committee. The panel will advise her administration and the Bureau of Elections on implementing Proposal 3 of 2018 and other election reforms.

On Thursday, Benson held a press conference in Flint Township heralding one aspect of Proposal 3: the start of no-reason, mail-in voting in Michigan. Other election changes approved by voters in the initiative include straight-ticket voting, same-day voting registration and automatic voter registration.

“The results of last November’s election are clear: Michigan voters want to make it easier to vote and harder to cheat,” Benson said.

She added that the panel will help the state with “modernizing our elections, applying best practices and making Michigan a national model for clean, efficient and secure elections.”

In the Lame Duck session last year, the GOP-led Legislature passed one change to Proposal 3 on same-day voter registration. Under the law, voters can only do that at a county clerk’s main office, rather than at polling locations or satellite clerk’s offices, as many other states allow.

The committee also will advise on poll worker recruitment training and online voter registration, which the Legislature passed last year.

Benson named former Michigan Director of Elections Chris Thomas to lead the advisory committee. Other members include local clerks, Michigan-based voting rights advocates, and local and national election experts:

Tripp Adams, Michigan chapter lead for the Truman National Security Project, an advocacy organization for national security solutions; chief operating officer of Rochester Hills-based Emagine Entertainment; and a lawyer.

Jackie Beaudry, Ann Arbor city clerk

David Becker, executive director and founder of the nonprofit Center for Election Innovation & Research in Washington, D.C.; former director of the elections program at The Pew Charitable Trusts and former senior trial attorney in the Voting Section of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division.

Mary Clark, Delta Township clerk.

Sharon Dolente, voting rights strategist with the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan and an attorney.

Martha Gonzalez-Cortes, vice president of community investment at the Kalamazoo Community Foundation, former community relations director for the Michigan Department of Civil Rights and former state director of the Office of Migrant Affairs.

Rachel Huddleston, publications/communications associate for Michigan Protection & Advocacy Service Inc. in Lansing.

Elizabeth Hundley, attorney and Livingston County clerk.

Mary Kotowski, St. Clair Shores city clerk and former election director for Macomb County.

Benjamin Marentette, Traverse City clerk.

Amber McReynolds, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based National Vote at Home Institute.

Tammy Patrick, senior advisor to the elections program at the Democracy Fund in Washington, D.C., and a former member of the Presidential Commission on Election Administration. Whitney Quesenbery, co-director of the Center for Civic Design in Cambridge, Md., and a former member of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s advisory committee for voting system standards.

Justin Roebuck, Ottawa County clerk and register of deeds.

Joe Rozell, Oakland County director of elections.