Something everyone knows but is rarely seen in print is how high insurance costs in Detroit impact the quality of life and, yes, the quality of electoral politics.
From Bridge Mag via the Freep:
Vince Keenan, founder of
Publius.org, a Michigan voter-education and civic-participation program, says the link between insurance rates and one’s registered address is "the most well-known single fact" about voting in Detroit. And he doesn’t like it.
"It's an unintended consequence of Motor-Voter," he said, or the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which tied voter registration to one’s driver’s license. "It was very successful at getting people registered, especially in Michigan, because we drive so much. But by marrying the two, we have to think about (the auto-insurance issue), and we shouldn’t have to. For a voter to have to worry about where their car insurance is, is stupid. We’ve made it easier to commit community fraud, where you’re living and working in a community that you’re not voting in, than to commit insurance fraud."
Keenan knows the price of honesty from experience. In 2002, he moved two blocks -- from one block north of Eight Mile Road, in Ferndale, to one block south, in Detroit, and saw his annual premium jump from $1,700 to $3,700.
"We need voters in Detroit who are active and engaged about it," he said. "Where you choose to vote should not be governed by your car insurance, period."
Read more
here.
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