LANSING, Michigan – The bipartisan Michigan board of Democracy Defense Foundation (DDF) praised new criminal charges made by the state Attorney General’s Office against five non-U.S. citizens accused of voting in the 2024 elections. While the system did work in identifying and holding illegal voters accountable in these cases, DDF also called on the state to take whatever steps necessary to remove any additional improper voter registrations that may exist.
AG Dana Nessel announced the charges against the five individuals on Thursday, along with a charge against a sixth person who attempted to register a noncitizen spouse to vote.
The DDF’s Michigan board members – former Govs. Jim Blanchard, a Democrat; John Engler, a Republican; former Lt. Gov. John Cherry, a Democrat; and former U.S. Congressman Mike Bishop, a Republican – released the following statement:
“Non-citizens are ineligible to be on Michigan’s voter rolls and the State of Michigan, at a minimum, must check for registered voters who are ineligible. Michigan’s election system does contain effective safeguards that ensure votes are fairly, accurately and securely counted, which led to this week’s criminal charges. But, while noncitizen voting appears to have represented a tiny fraction of votes cast with no identified impact on results, Michigan must step up our efforts to remove non-U.S. citizens from the state’s Qualified Voter File to further strengthen Michiganders’ confidence in our elections and trust the results. We welcome Attorney General Dana Nessel’s efforts to keep noncitizens from illegally voting in our elections.”
While the Attorney General’s Office says 38 incidents of illegal noncitizen voting have been reported in elections dating from 2009 to last year, 5.7 million Michigan citizens voted In the 2024 November general election alone. Tens of millions of ballots have been cast in all Michigan elections between 2009 and 2024. No illegal votes are acceptable but voters should feel confident that the results of Michigan’s elections are accurate.
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Published: Aug 19, 2026
