The RNC's lawsuit accuses Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson of having voter rolls that include ineligible voters.
The suit claims The lawsuit suggests that in 53 of Michigan's 83 counties, the number of registered voters exceeds the number of eligible residents. Additionally, it claims that another 23 counties have suspiciously high voter registration rates of 90 percent or more, which does not align with the national voter registration rate.
The RNC The lawsuit notes that in December, a letter was sent to Benson informing the state about 78 Michigan counties that were not in compliance with section 8, and requesting that they correct the violations within 90 days.
According to the lawsuit, Section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) mandates that states maintain accurate voter registration rolls and have a process in place to remove ineligible voters due to death or address changes.
The RNC claims that Benson did not properly clean up the state's voter rolls, arguing that keeping voter rolls inflated with ineligible voters undermines electoral integrity and public confidence.
The lawsuit states that several Michigan counties have inactive registration rates exceeding 15%, which is much higher than the state and national averages. This suggests that inactive registrations are not being removed after two general federal elections.
The Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) lodged a similar lawsuit. A suit filed by PILF in 2021 was recently dismissed after the court determined that the state was indeed removing deceased voters from its rolls, thus not violating the NVRA. PILF filed the suit after Benson allegedly failed to eliminate around 26,000 deceased voters from the rolls in 2020. The foundation purchased voter roll data from the state and hired an analytics team to compare the voters’ names to social security records and other documents, according to a PILF spokeswoman.
PILF spokesperson informed The Federalist last year. One of the voters still on the state’s list at the time the suit was filed was Pauline Schmainda, born in 1908 and passed away in 1990, as reported by the Detroit Free Press. However, U.S. District Court Judge Jane Beckering of the Western District of Michigan dismissed the PILF suit, stating that deceased voters are regularly removed from Michigan’s voter rolls.
Beckering ruled that the state has made a reasonable effort to keep the rolls clean despite PILF attorneys' claims regarding the thousands of deceased registrants. The suit reiterates that 53 of Michigan's 83 counties have more registered voters than eligible residents..
But U.S. District Court Judge Jane Beckering of the Western District of Michigan dismissed the PILF suit, claiming “the record demonstrates that deceased voters are removed from Michigan’s voter rolls on a regular and ongoing basis.”
Beckering ruled the state has made a “reasonable effort” to keep the rolls clean despite contrary claims from PILF attorneys, who said the thousands of dead registrants are proof the state isn’t doing enough.
