Ranked choice voting group heckled, booted from Michigan GOP convention

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Ranked choice voting group heckled, booted from Michigan GOP convention

A ranked choice voting group that paid to attend the Michigan Republican Party convention Saturday said it was escorted from the Novi convention center premises by security after continued heckling by party members and state Rep. Matt Maddock.
Rank MI Vote said the Republican lawmaker from Milford repeatedly called volunteers "communists" and threatened one volunteer by indicating that, if he were in the parking lot, he would "kick your ass."
"We were having a productive day meeting like-minded, politically engaged convention attendees until Rep. Maddock chose to bully our volunteers and anyone who stopped to speak with us," said Jennifer Umphress, conservative working group director with Rank MI Vote.
Maddock, when asked whether he threatened the volunteers, said via text: "I threatened to expose them and I did."
Michigan GOP chair sorry he let Ranked MI Vote attend convention
State Sen. Jim Runestad, the chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, expressed some remorse for allowing the group to attend the convention.
"It was a regrettable decision to permit them to have a table," Runestad said. "Once concerns were brought to our attention, we revoked their table privileges and will be issuing a refund.
"I am not personally familiar with the Rep. Maddock situation," he added.
Maddock is a fourth-term lawmaker who serves as the majority vice chair for the House Appropriations Committee. Maddock's wife, Meshawn Maddock, is the former co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party.
Rank MI Vote last year tried to gather signatures for a ballot proposal that would usher in ranked choice voting, which allows people, generally, to rank candidates for a particular office, with the ultimate winner required to get a majority of the support. The group stopped collecting signatures late last year and the proposal is not expected to appear on the November ballot.
Ranked MI Vote said it wanted to discuss voting issues with delegates
Umphress said the group is well aware that the Republican leadership is largely opposed to ranked choice voting, but the group decided to inquire about a table at the convention in a good-faith effort to discuss the matter with delegates. Umphress said she herself has twice been a Republican delegate at the statewide convention.
"I got a gracious reply back on that from Team Runestad saying they would welcome us at the convention," Umphress told The News.
The group paid $500 for its table and had a total of 11 volunteers throughout the day Saturday inside Novi's Vibe Credit Union Showplace, where the convention took place.
The group said it had a "good morning" of engagement and debate with convention attendees until Maddock showed up at the table shortly before noon Saturday.
Maddock accused of making 'derogatory remarks' against group
The lawmaker made "repeated derogatory remarks," including referring to volunteers as communists, then set up a chair directly in front of the table to heckle and block individuals visiting the table, Rank MI Vote said in a statement.
Around noon, security removed Maddock's chair, and the staff attempted to block Maddock from the table until the lawmaker retreated, the group said.
At 1:15 p.m., Maddock returned with about 20 people who surrounded the table and shouted "communists" and "shame" at volunteers, the group said. Maddock, at one point, told a volunteer that "If we were in the parking lot, I'd kick your ass," Rank MI Vote said in a statement.
Security returned and then, later, at the request of the party leadership, asked Rank MI Vote to leave and escorted volunteers from the building, the statement said. At that point, Umphress said, volunteers were told there were safety concerns and that calls had been made to the national party.
Umphress said Runestad and the Republican leadership "were gracious and attempted to intervene to keep us safe."
Maddock calls Rank MI Voting members 'communists'
Maddock on Tuesday posted video on social media that he appeared to have taken at the convention, in which he referred to the volunteers as "straight up communists."
"None of us are communists," one volunteer responded, trying to argue that ranked choice voting benefited all voters.
"We stopped you guys dead in your tracks," Maddock told the volunteers, referring to the group's ballot proposal.
eleblanc@detroitnews.com