Chinese student to face criminal charges for voting in Michigan

NOTE: The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 explicitly prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections. It is not legal in any state for a noncitizen to cast a ballot in a federal election. While federal law does not prohibit noncitizens from casting a ballot in state or local elections, no state currently allows noncitizens to vote in statewide elections. (from bipartisanpolicy .org)

(by Craig Mauger and Kim Kozlowski, The Detroit News) – A University of Michigan student who is from China and not a U.S. citizen allegedly voted Sunday in Ann Arbor and is being charged with two crimes, six days before a pivotal presidential election.

The filing of the charges was revealed Wednesday in a statement from Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s office and the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s office. The press release didn’t identify the student, describing him only as “a non-U.S. citizen.”

The 19-year-old from China was legally present in the United States but not a citizen, which meant he couldn’t legally cast a ballot, according to information from the Michigan Secretary of State’s office. He registered to vote on Sunday using his UM student identification and other [undisclosed] documentation establishing residency in Ann Arbor, signed a document identifying himself as a U.S. citizen and his ballot was entered into a tabulator, according to the Secretary of State’s office.

The ballot was cast at an early voting site at the University of Michigan Museum of Art on State Street, according to the Ann Arbor city administrator.

Later, the UM student voter contacted the local clerk’s office, asking if he could somehow get his ballot back, according to Benson’s office.

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.”

Benson and Savit are both Democrats.

The [Chinese student], who has not been identified, 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.

…As of Wednesday afternoon, the student had not yet been arraigned. The student is being represented by UM Student Legal Services, Samborn said.

“Through a series of actions, the student was apparently able to register, receive a ballot and cast a vote,” Milton Dohoney Jr., the city’s administrator wrote to the Ann Arbor City Council members in an email Monday: “Based upon the scenario that we’re hearing this morning, the student was fully aware of what he was doing, and that it was not legal.”

Dohoney acknowledged in the email that the story might get “picked up by the regional or perhaps national media.”

In 2012, during a legal fight over Michigan’s voter application requiring individuals to attest their U.S. citizenship under penalty of perjury, Republican then-Secretary of State Ruth Johnson’s office said there was evidence of two instances in which Canadians had voted in Michigan elections using state-issued driver’s licenses to register.

Under a 2018 ballot proposal that voters approved with 67% support, people can register to vote in Michigan up to and including on Election Day. Proof of residency for voting can include a driver’s license, state identification card, a utility bill or university records, according to the Secretary of State’s website.

“It’s incredible that someone has to prove their citizenship to get on a plane or get a job in this country, but you can still vote just based on your word and sign a waiver,” said Sarah Hubbard, a Republican and past chair of the UM Board of Regents. “Now the vote is going to count and can’t be rescinded….”

With nine days of early, in-person voting occurring through Sunday, Hubbard said there’s a lot of pressure on campus for students to vote right now.”I hope it was an innocent mistake,” she said.

The statement from the Secretary of State’s website and the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s office [claimed] voting by non-U.S. citizens as “an extremely isolated and rare event.”

“Let this much be clear: Voting records are public,” the statement added. “Any noncitizen who attempts to vote fraudulently in Michigan will be exposing themselves to great risk and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Attorney General Dana Nessel, the state’s top law enforcement official and a Democrat, said her office had launched an independent, parallel investigation into the voter fraud allegation in Ann Arbor.

“It is the responsibility of each and every resident of this state and nation to adhere to the law, and Michigan election law makes clear that non-citizens cannot vote in our elections,” Nessel said. “We take all allegations of voter fraud extremely seriously, and the public should expect nothing less.”

In a statement Wednesday, U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar, a Republican from Caledonia and chair of a special House committee scrutinizing China’s power, accused Benson of failing to “prevent this illegal vote from being cast.”

“The University of Michigan should expel this student for violating our laws and our state’s leaders need to take serious action against the Chinese Communist Party’s attempts to influence our state,” Moolenaar said in a statement. “Secretary Benson must tell us how she will prevent similar election fraud in the next week, and how she will secure our elections against CCP interference.”

Published at The Detroit News on October 30, 2024. Staff Writer Melissa Nann Burke contributed to this report. Reprinted here for educational purposes only. May not be reproduced on other websites without permission.