“Scope of Michigan Voter Review Under Scrutiny After Non-Citizen Voting Case”
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The Michigan Secretary of State’s review of non-citizens on the state’s voter rolls focused solely on individuals who registered using a Michigan driver’s license or state identification, excluding those who registered using other forms of identification. This has raised concerns that the number of non-citizens on Michigan’s voter rolls may be higher than reported.
Earlier this month, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) announced that her office identified 15 non-citizens who voted in the 2024 general election, following a review of state voting records. However, the review was limited in scope after Benson’s team advised her that identifying active voters without a driver’s license or state ID would be time-consuming and complex. Election integrity advocates have since questioned the thoroughness of the verification process and whether citizenship status is being adequately confirmed.
In September, during testimony before the House Administration Committee, Benson stated, “We’re doing everything we can to ensure that non-citizens are not able to vote and that only U.S. citizens vote in our elections, and it’s working.” She also asserted there was no evidence non-citizens were voting, citing the public availability of voter records and the lack of documented cases presented by outside groups.
However, in October, a Chinese national student at the University of Michigan admitted to registering and voting illegally during early voting. The student was subsequently charged with two felonies: false swearing to register to vote and attempting to vote as an unqualified elector. Following this incident, Benson’s office coordinated internal messaging and sought updated information on voters without Michigan-issued identification.
Text messages obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by The Detroit News reveal that Benson’s staff determined it would require significant time and resources to query the Qualified Voter File (QVF) for active voters lacking a driver’s license or state ID. In internal communications, Benson requested data on how many voters lacked such identification and how many voted in the 2020 election, but her staff advised that obtaining accurate figures would be difficult and possibly not useful.
Tim Mauro-Vetter, co-chair of the Michigan Fair Elections Institute’s Data Evaluation Election Processes team, noted that publicly available QVF data does not include driver’s license, citizenship, or ID information, making independent verification impossible. Mauro-Vetter stated that, had the necessary data been publicly available, he could have produced the requested figures within minutes.
Patrice Johnson, chair of Pure Integrity Michigan Elections, criticized Benson’s approach, suggesting that more knowledgeable data analysts could have assisted and arguing that Michigan is not adequately verifying voter citizenship. Johnson also highlighted that under a new Michigan law (HB 4983) set to take effect on June 30, 2025, non-citizens will be required to affirmatively prove they are not citizens to be removed from voter rolls. She further noted that Executive Order 14248 mandates federal databases be made available to state and local election officials to assist in voter roll maintenance.
Two months after the internal discussion, Benson’s office conducted a review comparing state motor vehicle and voting records to identify non-citizens who voted. This review confirmed 15 non-citizen voters in the 2024 general election, with 13 cases referred to the Michigan Attorney General’s Office for potential prosecution. Of the remaining two cases, one individual had died, and the other was under investigation.
In a statement, Benson emphasized the rarity of such incidents: “Only U.S. citizens can legally register and vote in our elections. Our careful review confirms what we already knew – that this illegal activity is very rare.” Her office noted that the 16 non-citizen votes identified represented just 0.00028% of the more than 5.7 million votes cast.
Benson argued against broad legislative changes based on these findings, stating, “While we take all violations of election law very seriously, this tiny fraction of potential cases in Michigan and at the national level do not justify recent efforts to pass laws we know would block tens of thousands of Michigan citizens from voting.”
The Detroit News reported that the review was limited to voters who registered with a Michigan driver’s license or state ID. Other forms of identification, such as out-of-state licenses, U.S. passports, military IDs, tribal IDs, or student IDs, were not the focus of the review. As a result, individuals like the University of Michigan student, who used a university-issued ID and other residency documents, were not included in the review’s findings.
The Michigan Secretary of State’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Rewritten: Source article originally posted here: https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/mi-secretary-state-review-non-citizens-voter-rolls-excluded-those-without
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