(The Center Square) – The Michigan Department of State claims the state’s elections are “more accurate than ever,” but some are pushing back on that assertion.
This comes after the state Office of Auditor General released a report examining “selected procedures” used by the department to maintain accurate voter roles.
Deputy Secretary of State Aghogho Edevbie pointed to the report as evidence of the benefits of “comprehensive” reforms enacted under Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.
“The OAG report provides even more evidence that state and local election officials are going above and beyond to ensure Michigan’s voter rolls are complete, up to date, and accurate,” Edevbie said. “Our department has invested significant resources and implemented meaningful reforms to make our system the best in the nation. We will never stop working to improve our policies and process, retaining well-earned confidence in our state’s secure, accessible elections.”
The Michigan Fair Elections Institute, a nonprofit election integrity group, said that is a “misrepresentation” of the report, instead calling for a “full, legally-compliant audit” before the Sept. 15 deadline.
“Secretary Benson underestimates Michiganders,” Patrice Johnson, founder and chair of the institute exclusively told The Center Square. “She believes she can make false claims about the report, and no one will bother to fact check her.”
The institute’s main issue with the report is its limited scope, stating it does not comply with Michigan’s law requiring a full performance audit. Instead, it said the report the office did release was narrow in scope and did not independently verify the underlying data it used.
The report itself stated:
“Our examination is limited in scope and, although accurate to the best of our knowledge, it is not intended to provide a full performance audit,” it said. “Therefore, it would not necessarily disclose the presence or absence of any material or reportable conditions, and we did not express an opinion as to the effectiveness or efficiency of the selected procedures examined.”
Johnson said she is grateful the report disclosed that, but argued a full audit is required, especially given “documented irregularities” by the department.
“Anything short of that leaves Michiganders without the assurance our legislators were trying to provide,” Johnson said.
The “selected procedures” examined by the office looked specifically at how the state’s Qualified Voter File, or voter database, is updated and maintained.
According to the Department of State, the database currently contains information on more than 8.3 million registered voters.
Through the examination, the office found that 99.99% of the database’s entries were fully complete with all required data. It found 73 registered voters under the age of 17 1/2 and 653 over the age of 122.
“The match between QVF data and data in the state's driver and vehicle record system (CARS) has dramatically increased since 2021 with 99.7% of the records in CARS identical to those in QVF,” the department said in a statement.
Since 2018, Michigan has allowed automatic voter registration for eligible residents when they apply for or renew a driver’s license or state ID.
Johnson said the report should have done more – also pushing back on the claim it shows the accuracy of Michigan’s elections.
“We have no way of knowing with any certainty whether Michigan’s elections are ‘more accurate than ever,’” she said. “MFEI and other organizations have identified election irregularities that should trigger immediate investigation, but Secretary Benson has aggressively resisted any and all attempts to audit the voter rolls, dismissing any questions with the assertion the voter rolls are accurate.”
On the flip side, Neil Ubriani, chief of policy at the Institute for Responsive Government, applauded Michigan for leading the nation “in ensuring secure elections while protecting access to the ballot box.”
“Thanks to recent upgrades implemented by the Department of State, Michigan uses the information that customers already provide during routine state agency transactions and efficiently identifies and removes ineligible applicants from any voter registration process before it starts,” Ubriani said. “This vital tool is designed to automatically filter out noncitizens from any registration opportunity, helping to ensure Michigan’s voter rolls remain up to date and accurate.”
This comes amid recent concerns from Republicans in the state about illegal immigrants voting in state elections.
The Michigan Department of State did not respond to a request from The Center Square for comment on the claim it “misrepresented” the report.
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