LANSING, Mich. — Sen. Ruth Johnson, who previously served as Michigan secretary of state, is calling on her successor Jocelyn Benson to explain an apparent large increase in the number of individuals registering to vote who may be noncitizens.
Johnson’s concern comes in the wake of reports that a Chinese national who is a student at the University of Michigan recently voted and that this individual’s vote will count in the November 2024 general election results. In a letter to Benson, Johnson requested information about the processes in place to prevent and detect noncitizens registering to vote.
“So far in 2024, there have been 34,535 individuals whose name, date of birth, and Social Security numbers do not match any record found in the Social Security database,” said Johnson, R-Holly. “That is a huge increase from previous years and very alarming to me. Far-left operatives have pushed for changes in our constitution and laws that allow for same-day registration with no ID and our clerks do not have the ability to check or verify citizenship.”
Johnson is referring to results reported by the Social Security Administration’s Help America Vote Verification system, used by state officials to verify new voter registrations. The Michigan Secretary of State’s Office sends the name, date of birth and last four digits of a Social Security number from new voter registrations to the system, which then alerts the state if the information submitted does not match the information contained in federal Social Security records
“With Proposal 3 of 2018, Proposal 2 of 2022 and new election laws pushed by the secretary of state and passed by the Democratic-controlled Legislature, so much integrity has been stripped away from our elections,” Johnson said. “We have no system to check if people are registering or voting who are not eligible. The only way the student at UM was caught is because he requested his ballot back from the clerk.”
In the Election Officials Manual published by Benson’s office dated November 2024, she instructs clerks that individuals appearing in person to register to vote do not have to comply with federal identification requirements. The manual states that “The federal identification requirement [also] does not apply to any person applying to register to vote in person.”
In her letter, Johnson asks Benson how many individuals whose voter registration information does not match the information on file with the Social Security Administration have voted in the November 2024 election. She also asks what process Benson is following to investigate the eligibility of these individuals to vote in Michigan and federal elections.
“I worked on a law with the Legislature as secretary of state in 2018 that would have prevented this student’s ballot from counting, but Democrats stripped this law away,” said Johnson. “We should all want free and fair elections. When someone is allowed to vote who is not eligible, that disenfranchises another voter. It is very sad that the current secretary of state seems to be more concerned with partisan advantage than with integrity in our elections.”
Previously, the ballot of any individual registering to vote without ID within 14 days of an election or on Election Day was identified as a challenged ballot. This allowed the ballot to be removed from vote totals if it was determined that the voter was ineligible. However, Proposal 2 of 2022 and changes made by the Democratic state Legislature since 2023 require that such ballots now be counted anonymously with other voters’ ballots.
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