Speaker Pro Tempore Rachelle Smit (R-Shelbyville) is bringing attention to a recent admission made by Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s office that at least 15 non-citizens voted in Michigan’s last election. Benson’s comment comes after she told a U.S. House Committee “there is no evidence that non-citizens are voting,” in September last year. Smit, who chairs the Michigan House Election Integrity Committee, found the comments concerning.

“It’s deeply troubling to me that our secretary of state told Congress that non-citizens weren’t voting in our elections just a couple months before November,” Smit said. “Now she admits they are voting in our elections, and at least 15 of them had their ballots tabulated and counted. That’s 15 Michigan taxpaying residents who had their votes illegally cancelled out by people who shouldn’t have been at the polls to begin with.”

The news comes after President Trump recently ordered that proof of citizenship be required for voting in U.S. elections, and revelations that millions of non-citizens were issued social security numbers by the Biden Administration ahead of the 2024 Presidential Election. Smit, a former township clerk who administered elections for seven years, believes citizenship should be mandatory and the voter rolls should be cleaned up.

“Proof of citizenship should absolutely be required to vote in our elections, and I am sure the vast majority of my fellow election clerks would agree,” Smit said. “Secretary Benson and her team should complete a thorough review of our voter rolls and ensure that only living U.S. citizens, who reside in Michigan, are able to validly cast a vote at the polls in the future. Our nation is only sovereign if our elections are secure and subject only to our citizens.”

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