International student accused of voting in Michigan arrested

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A non-United States citizen was arrested and charged after illegally registering to vote and cast an absentee ballot that would be counted in the 2024 election, according to the Department of State.

A 19-year-old Chinese international student from the University of Michigan falsely claimed to be a U.S. citizen while registering to vote and vote at an Ann Arbor early voting site on Sunday, according to Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Washtenaw. County Attorney Eli Savit. He then called the Secretary of State’s office and asked if he could get his ballot back.

But the State Department told News 8’s sister station WLNS in Lansing that the ballot had already been tabulated and would have been counted even though it was cast illegally because there was no way for election officials to track it. The election process is designed to prevent identification of a voter’s individual ballot.

The international student was arrested and will be charged with perjury for attempting to vote as an unauthorized voter and false voter registration, according to Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Washtenaw County District Attorney Eli Savit.

“Only US citizens can register and vote in our elections. It is illegal to lie about one’s citizenship status on any registration form or application to vote. Doing so is a serious crime,” Benson and Savit wrote in a joint press release Wednesday.

How do election officials ensure the security of Grand Rapids ballot boxes?

The statement said the officer “acted quickly” and took “appropriate steps” and referred the case to law enforcement, which “expeditiously and thoroughly investigated this case.”

The Michigan Attorney General also launched a separate investigation.

“Non-citizen voting is an extremely isolated and rare event. Studies in many states and across the country have found no evidence that large numbers of noncitizens are registering to vote. Less common is for a non-citizen to vote. When this happens, we take it extremely seriously. “Our elections are secure, and Michigan state and local election officials carefully follow the law,” the statement said.

Benson and Savit also reminded people that voting records are public and any non-citizen attempting to vote in Michigan will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

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