By A 19-year-old University of Michigan student from China faces two criminal charges after allegedly voting illegally in Ann Arbor just days ahead of a high-stakes U.S. presidential election, according to Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit.
The student, who remains unnamed, is legally residing in the United States but does not hold American citizenship, making him ineligible to vote under Michigan law. Authorities report that he registered to vote using his university ID and local residency documents, allegedly misrepresenting himself as a U.S. citizen to cast a ballot at an early voting location within the University of Michigan Museum of Art.
The Detroit News reported that even though the clerk knows that the vote was cast illegally, it’s still going to count.
The student’s ballot is expected to count in the upcoming election — although it was illegally cast — because there is no way for election officials to retrieve it once it’s been put through a tabulator, according to two sources familiar with Michigan election laws. The setup is meant to prevent ballots from being tracked back to an individual voter.
“We’re grateful for the swift action of the clerk in this case, who took the appropriate steps and referred the case to law enforcement,” said a joint statement from the offices of Benson and Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit. “We are also grateful to law enforcement for swiftly and thoroughly investigating this case.
“Anyone who attempts to vote illegally faces significant consequences, including but not limited to arrest and prosecution.”
The person is being charged with perjury — making a false statement on an affidavit for the purpose of securing voter registration — and being an unauthorized elector who attempted to vote. The latter allegation is a felony punishable by up to four years behind bars and a fine of up to $2,000, according to Michigan law. The standard penalty for perjury in Michigan is 15 years in prison, but it’s unclear what it would be in this case involving lying on an application to vote.Â
On the same day, it was revealed that Michigan is having problems with their Dominion Voting machines. Local news noted that “the Michigan Department of State said Friday there is a known issue with some of its voting machines that will make it more inconvenient for certain people to cast ballots.
In a release, the department wrote that some of the terminals the state uses for people with disabilities present an error message if the voter does not cast a ballot in the way indicated at the beginning of the process.
Voters must select the ‘straight party’ option on the machines, which are owned by Dominion Voting Systems, if they want to cast all their ballots for members of one party, according to the state department. Otherwise, the voter needs to select the desired candidate for each race, the release says.
If the voter selects the ‘straight party’ option but casts ballots for candidates of different parties, the error message will appear, the department explained.
“Because of this programming issue, voters using Dominion ICX VATs will have to select either the ‘straight party’ option if they wish to vote straight ticket or vote for each race on the partisan selection of the ballot if they wish to split their ticket, state officials said.
This cases comes amid heightened scrutiny over election security as Michigan gears up for a closely contested presidential race, with former President Donald Trump facing off against Vice President Kamala Harris.
In 2020, Michigan became a focal point in election fraud claims, all of which were ultimately dismissed by state courts. Nonetheless, public attention on election security remains high, with ongoing discussions around voter eligibility and regulations.
[Read More: Walz Flagged By DHS As Risk]
