Posthumus to propose constitutional amendment requiring proof of citizenship from voters

Updated at 3:45 p.m. – 12/11/24

Rep. Bryan Posthumus (R-Rockford) on Wednesday announced plans to introduce a constitutional amendment in the upcoming legislative session aimed at blocking non-citizens from casting a ballot in the state. 

First announced during an interview with WILS, Posthumus’ proposal would require voters to present proof of citizenship when registering to vote and government-issued photo identification when casting the ballot. 

“Only American citizens can vote in American elections,” Posthumus, who will lead Republicans on the House floor in the majority caucus come the new session in January. “Unfortunately, the current election law and framework are insufficient to safeguard this foundational principle.”

According to Posthumus’ office, the plan is a response to reports of a 19-year-old University of Michigan student from China casting a ballot in Ann Arbor. Under the state’s ballot secrecy protections a ballot usually cannot be retrieved or canceled after it is fed into a tabulator.

“Not one American citizen should have their vote canceled out by a non-citizen,” Posthumus said. “This is not and must not be a partisan issue. I look forward to working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to immediately pass this constitutional amendment.”

While non-citizens are not eligible to vote in federal, state or most local elections, a handful of municipalities do allow non-citizens to vote in their elections. 

Election officials have repeatedly stressed that noncitizen voting is extremely rare with safeguards in place to prevent noncitizen voting. Audits of voter rolls in Georgia, Ohio and Iowa found that noncitizens accounted for a small fraction of states’ total number of registered voters, according to a report from ABC. 

Additionally, a comprehensive audit of Georgia’s voter rolls uncovered 20 noncitizens who registered to vote among 8.2 million registered voters alongside nine instances when noncitizens actually cast a ballot. Another audit of Iowa’s 2.3 million voters found 87 instances where individuals cast ballots and later identified themselves as noncitizens.

In 2018, Michigan voters approved a constitutional amendment expanding voting rights in Michigan to include a right to a secret ballot, no-reason absentee voting and in-person voter registration on election day with proof of residency among other provisions. Michigan voters approved another amendment in 2022 guaranteeing fundamental right to vote and expanding access to the ballot through measures like guaranteed access to ballot drop boxes, early voting for a minimum of nine days before election day, and the use of a photo ID or signed affidavit to verify voter identity.

Jamie Lyons-Eddy, the executive director of Voters Not Politicians, a non-partisan pro-democracy advocacy group, emphasized the current law in a statement provided to the Advance. 

“Michigan law already requires a photo ID to vote, and federal law already prohibits non-citizens from voting. Frankly, this entire narrative is nonsensical political posturing that risks disenfranchising eligible voters,” Lyons-Eddy said. 

“Michigan voters have already made their choice very clear on this matter – they want elections that are secure, modern, and accessible. I can’t understand why any elected official would want to undermine the will of Michigan voters by threatening to roll back the very same voting rights that voters across the political spectrum support,” she said. 

Micheal Davis, Jr., executive director of Promote The Vote, the organization which backed the voting rights initiatives in 2018 and 2020, stressed non-citizen voting as a non-issue.

“Simply put, there is no evidence of widespread issues that would justify undermining our already-proven system, a system that is both secure and protects access to the ballot for all eligible voters. Any attempt to impose additional barriers to voting will disproportionately impact already-vulnerable individuals, those who are low-income, unhoused, new voters, and seniors,” Davis said in an emailed statement. 

Alongside Posthumus’ proposal in the Legislature, an organization called the Committee to Protect Voters’ Rights launched a website pitching a potential petition drive to get an amendment on the ballot if lawmakers do not take up the proposal. 

If pursued in the Legislature, the two thirds of the members in each chamber must vote to place the matter before voters in the next general election. If pursued through the petition process, petitioners must gather 446,198 signatures to place the matter on the ballot. 

When asked to comment, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson sent the Advance the following statement:

“All eligible citizens and only eligible citizens have the constitutional right to vote in Michigan. I’m always open to serious and well thought out efforts to further strengthen our secure system. But many of these proposals will prevent large numbers of eligible citizens from exercising their constitutional voting rights in the name of making it even more difficult and rare than it already is for a noncitizen to vote. We know because other states have already tried this – a similar 2004 ballot initiative in Arizona disenfranchised 47,000 eligible U.S. citizens. A federal court struck down Kansas’s law because it violated both the U.S. Constitution and the National Voter Registration Act. Michigan’s voters have overwhelmingly passed constitutional amendments in recent years to ensure that eligible citizens aren’t denied their right to vote. We should respect their will and focus our efforts on policies that actually improve security, such as a guaranteed source of state funding to ensure clerks have the resources they need for every election.”

In a social media post, Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt (R-Porter Twp.) offered his support for Posthumus’ proposal.

“Only citizens should vote in our elections. Seems pretty commonsense. But when a foreign nationals (sic) vote in our elections, and our top election official brushes it off, proposals like these are needed,” Nesbitt said.

Upon discovering that a non-citizen had cast a ballot in Ann Arbor, the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office authorized felony charges against the individual, with Attorney General Dana Nessel launching an independent, parallel investigation into the incident.

This story was updated to include a statement from Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.