Michigan state agencies will soon register all those old enough to vote, even if they do not prove citizenship, under a law that takes effect in June.
Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed HB 4983 in 2023, which takes effect on June 30. The bill directs the secretary of state to automatically register voters who claim to be citizens unless they prove they are noncitizens; it allows the secretary to designate state bodies as “automatic voter registration agenc[ies]”; and it exempts ineligible voters who are unintentionally placed on the rolls by “human or mechanical error” from violating state law.
State Rep. Rachelle Smit, a Republican, told The Federalist in a statement that she thinks the law is “reckless and dangerous.”
“[T]he law simply injects chaos into the voter rolls and risks disenfranchising every Michigan voter. Automatically placing individuals on the voter rolls without any accountability mechanisms is simply stupid. It will obviously result in thousands of false registrations,” Smit said. “Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has demonstrated time and again that she has no interest in properly auditing the voter rolls.”
Benson announced in 2019 that her office would automatically register all residents who “apply for or update their driver’s license or personal ID … unless they are ineligible or don’t want to be registered.” She faced numerous lawsuits ahead of the 2024 presidential election for allegedly failing to clean the state’s bloated voter rolls. The upcoming law would vastly expand the secretary’s authority, codifying what appear to be gaping holes in election security.
“Nothing in this section shall be construed to … require documentary proof of United States citizenship for voter registration,” the bill reads.
This is despite President Donald Trump’s executive order against noncitizen voting, directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to enforce federal laws ensuring only American citizens vote. The Help America Vote Act and National Voter Registration Act also explain that one must be a citizen to register and vote.
“Michigan elections are already [in] shambles,” Smit said. “Now, HB 4983 will turn our elections into the wild west.”
Looking the Other Way
If a resident cannot prove citizenship while interacting with the secretary of state’s office, officials must still offer voter registration — the office just cannot register a resident who “provides documentation demonstrating that the individual is not a United States citizen.”
“They have to prove they are not citizens,” Patrice Johnson, chair of the nonprofit Michigan Fair Elections, told The Federalist. “Who’s going to do that? Nobody on this planet is going to do that.”
For those of voting age who cannot prove citizenship — but don’t show proof of noncitizenship — “the secretary of state shall offer to register to vote that individual,” according to the bill. He or she must simply attest to being “a citizen of the United States.” The bill also directs the Department of Corrections to help register recently released inmates.
“They’re just trying to open the floodgates to noncitizens registering and voting,” Johnson said.
A Chinese national in Michigan allegedly registered and cast his ballot in November’s election by simply attesting he was a citizen and showing a student ID, as The Federalist previously reported. Officials only caught this because he turned himself in, and his vote still counted. Benson recently announced 15 likely noncitizens who cast ballots statewide during the presidential election.
In Oregon, officials discovered last year that the DMV’s “motor voter” system had registered more than 1,700 potential noncitizens to vote. According to a document obtained by The Federalist, the Oregon DMV used a process similar to that described in Michigan’s new law — registering residents to vote unless they prove they are not citizens.
The Oregon DMV began offering voter registration “at credential issuance to individuals with unknown citizenship status.” The process “requires a self-certification of citizenship by the applicant. Applicants who present proof of non-citizenship are not offered the voter registration opportunity.” Ultimately, the Oregon DMV processed more than 54,600 voter registrations for individuals of “unknown citizenship” from June 2021 to October 2024.
Imitating ‘Bidenbucks’
Along with permissive registration, Michigan’s upcoming law allows the secretary of state to co-opt bodies of state government as “automatic voter registration agenc[ies].” These state agencies may not stop registering voters, unless they prove incapable of collecting “sufficient information” for eligibility or updating registrations.
“If the secretary of state verifies that a state agency in the regular course of business collects sufficient information … to confirm the eligibility for voter registration or the updating of information … the secretary of state may designate that state agency as an automatic voter registration agency,” the bill reads.
This hearkens to the “Bidenbucks” scandal, in which then-President Joe Biden ordered federal agencies to act as “get out the vote” groups. This essentially weaponized taxpayer-funded institutions to target left-leaning demographics, building an electorate friendly to the Democrat Party. Despite this, Donald Trump beat Biden’s successor for president, Kamala Harris, in a landslide victory.
Defending Noncitizen Voters
The law also builds a legal defense for ineligible registrants. If a “human or mechanical error” places them on the rolls “without intending to register to vote,” they are “not considered to have knowingly intended to register” under state law. Additionally, if an ineligible registrant “votes or attempts to vote … that individual is presumed to have a defense for a violation” under election code. (This does not apply to a registrant who “knowingly and willfully makes a false statement to effectuate voter registration or who intentionally takes voluntary action to register to vote or vote.”)
“It’s taking the worst of the worst,” Johnson said, “and inflicting them on Michigan.”
Logan Washburn is a staff writer covering election integrity. He is a spring 2025 fellow of The College Fix. He graduated from Hillsdale College, served as Christopher Rufo’s editorial assistant, and has bylines in The Wall Street Journal, The Tennessean, and The Daily Caller. Logan is from Central Oregon but now lives in rural Michigan.
