The Michigan Secretary of State's recent review of non-citizen voters highlights significant gaps in verifying citizenship status among registered voters.
• The review conducted by Jocelyn Benson only assessed individuals on voter rolls with driver's licenses, neglecting those without ID, potentially indicating more non-citizens are registered to vote.
• Although Benson announced 15 non-citizens had voted in the November election, election integrity advocate Patrice Johnson raised concerns that the state is not adequately verifying citizenship.
• Benson previously stated efforts are in place to prevent non-citizen voting, declaring a lack of evidence supporting claims of such voting.
• Contradicting Benson's assurances, a Chinese foreign national student admitted to voting illegally and faces felony charges for false registration and voting as an unqualified elector.
• Internal communications revealed the challenges Michigan officials face in acquiring data on registered voters lacking IDs, which require significant time and resource investment.
• Analysts pointed out that if the data were public, obtaining figures on registered voters could be done almost instantly.
• Johnson criticized Benson for not consulting data experts during the internal discussions about voter registration queries, highlighting lapses in citizenship verification.
• A new law coming into effect on June 30 will shift the burden to noncitizens to prove their non-citizen status to be removed from the voter rolls.
• The recent review identified 15 non-citizen voters, of which 13 were referred for potential criminal charges, indicating the issue may not be as widespread as initially feared.
• The Michigan Department of State stated these incidents represent a tiny fraction of total votes cast and expressed commitment to ongoing efforts to secure voting processes without disenfranchising eligible voters.
Michigan's efforts to assess non-citizen voting reveal critical areas for improvement in the verification of voter citizenship. The upcoming law and continued scrutiny may influence future voter registration practices and the integrity of elections in the state.
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