- According to the Michigan Secretary of State's office, a non-U.S. citizen is facing charges for voting in the 2024 general election at the University of Michigan.
- We spoke with a legal expert from the Michigan State University College of Law about the issue.
- Video shows Associate Professor Quinn Yeargain providing perspective on the issue, and what safeguards are in place to catch voters who may cast votes illegally.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
Wednesday, it was announced that charges have been filed against a University of Michigan international student from China for allegedly voting illegally.
With my neighborhood also being a college town, I spoke with an expert about the issue, and what safeguards are in place in the election process.
"It is not legal for non-citizens to vote nationwide," Quinn Yeargain said.
But the Michigan Secretary of State's office says it happened, and a 19-year-old international student at the University of Michigan has been charged after they say he lied about his citizenship.
"He asserted that he was a citizen of the United States," Yeargain said. "That is what it says on the voter registration form. It requires that someone certify that they are a citizen of the United States, and they are told that lying about that, and providing false information about that is a crime."
Quinn Yeargain, an Associate Professor with the MSU College of Law, tells me that it may seem easy for instances like the Ann Arbor case to happen, but it simply doesn't on a large scale.
"To say that they are rare understates it dramatically," he said. "These very rarely happen."
But why not? Yeargain says the risk is not worth the reward.
"The payoff here is so minimal," he said. "This is somebody who committed a very serious crime, is absolutely going to be prosecuted for it, is possibly facing a very real risk of deportation, all to cast a single vote in the election that is not going to be dispositive at all. The risk of criminal prosecution is so high."
And that risk is so high because of safeguards in place. Yeargain says audits of voter rolls catch these instances, and those responsible face the repercussions. And while the vote may count in instances like the Ann Arbor case, he says the rarity of these cases will not make a difference in the outcome.
"Even if the polls are right and this is a wire-thin, really down to the wire, a very thin margin, one vote is not going to tip the scales in this respect."
Voting information and ID requirements can be found in our online voter guide.
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