New Year's Michigan Voter U.S. Citizenship Affirmation Law Aimed To Remove 4,000 Non-citizens From Voting

Governor Rick Synder

Michigan voter U.S. Citizen affirmation law takes effect in the New Year in an attempt to remove at least 4,000 alleged non-citizens from the state's election voting rolls.

By H. Nelson Goodson

January 3, 2013

Lansing, Michigan - Governor Rick Synder (R) signed a U.S. citizen affirmation bill into law in the last days of 2012 requiring state voters to confirm that they are U.S. citizens and can legally vote in elections before voting. Michigan voters will now have to verify their legal status by signing an "affirmation" statement in the New Year. Michigan became the first state to pass a law requiring its citizens to affirm their U.S. citizenship status and can legally vote.

Last September, Ruth Johnson, the Michigan Secretary of State announced that at least 4,000 non-U.S. citizens might be registered to vote according to the new data acquired by the state. Johnson had requested federal authorities who have complete citizenship data to assist Michigan in determining citizenship of certain registered voters, but failed to act. "The whole reason we have non-U.S. citizens on our rolls in the first place is because for more than 30 years the feds required us to ask every customer if they wanted to register to vote, regardless of citizenship," Johnson said. "So today, we could have 4,000 people on our voter rolls who don't belong there – that's the population of cities like Bloomfield Hills or Durand." Nearly 1,000 of non-U.S. citizens have been verified, Johnson reported.

Michigan has more than 304,000 noncitizens, according to the U.S. Census' five-year American Community Survey. Of those noncitizens, nearly 4,000 could be registered to vote in Michigan, according to Johnson.

It is illegal and a felony crime to vote in any state, if the registered voter is not a U.S. citizen and votes.