On July 18, the Michigan Senate Campaigns & Elections Committee passed both SB624 and SB625. They both set up presidential primaries in which voters would need to request a primary ballot, and each party would receive a list of voters who had chosen that party’s primary ballot.

This is a change from past Michigan presidential primaries, in which voters decided in the secrecy of the voting booth which presidential primary to vote in. In recent years Democrats have not even held a presidential primary in Michigan, because national party rules forbid that type of presidential primary.

SB624 and SB625 are identical, except that SB624 sets up a January 29 primary date, whereas SB625 sets up a February 5 date. However, both bills give the two major parties flexibility to move the date of the presidential primary, if they both agree. Also, both bills make it more difficult for a party to qualify for its own presidential primary. Existing law provides a presidential primary for any party that got 5% of the vote for president in the last election, in the entire U.S. These bills change that to 25% within Michigan.