DETROIT — A Chinese student studying at the University of Michigan faces criminal charges for illegally voting, but his vote still counts.
Michigan’s secretary of state described the 19-year-old’s illegal vote as an “extremely isolated and rare event,” but the vote was self-reported and not investigated by election officials.
The student was charged with perjury and illegal voting.
Two sources familiar with Michigan election law say the students’ ballots, even though they were illegally cast, will be counted in the next election because they were once put through the counting machines. “There is no way for election officials to retrieve the ballots. This setting is intended to prevent ballots from being traced to individual voters,” the Detroit News reported.
Republican state Sen. Lana Theis has long warned about election security deficiencies in Michigan. No ID is required for same-day voter registration. Election officials are taking people’s word for it and claiming it is what they say.
Despite this vulnerability, Tice agrees that there is no way to retrieve a ballot once it has been cast, and he doesn’t think it should be because the ballot is no longer secret.
Tis explained that if election officials can obtain this particular ballot and match a specific ballot to a specific voter, they can obtain any ballot. And that will be the end of secret voting as we know it.
“The ballot you cast is sitting in your sleeve that doesn’t belong to you,” Tice told the Post.
“It comes in something like a blank envelope, but with numbers sticking out of the top. So they pull that holey part out, and now this is completely unrecognizable to you. is your secret vote.”
She added: “Once it goes through the machine, there’s no way to identify it, no way to track it to you. That’s what you need to do to cast a secret ballot.”
Assembly Republican Leader Matt Hall said the illegal voting shows the need for additional election security measures by Congress.
“The Democratic Party is responsible for allowing this Chinese person to illegally vote in our election,” he said.
“Democrats in Michigan stripped away critical election security measures over my objections, and Democrats in Washington blocked the SAVE Act, which would have blocked non-citizens from voting by requiring proof of citizenship. American Elections Now, only American citizens should vote, but thanks to the Democratic Party, this foreigner could vote without providing proof of citizenship by simply signing a form.
By the time a vote is cast, it’s too late, Tice said.
Election security begins much earlier, when voters are registered, and continues until before ballots are handed in.
“The remedies are pre-registration and then certification when you receive your ballot, and we undermined all of that,” Tice told the Post.
Michigan voters approved a 2022 constitutional amendment that would allow “at least nine” days of early voting.
This year’s early voting began on October 26th.
And voters approved a 2018 constitutional amendment allowing no-excuse absentee voting and same-day voter registration.
Tis claims voters were misled about how the amendment would deal with voter ID. Rather than strengthening it, this amendment weakened it.
Voters were led to believe that the amendment would require voter ID in Michigan, but it left a loophole. Those who sign an affidavit proving their identity will be given a ballot, ID or no ID.
Officials have acknowledged that Chinese nationals who voted in Ann Arbor signed such affidavits.
Tice said validation needs to be done on the front end before a vote is cast.
Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
