About two weeks from Election Day, some social media customers claimed one thing is amiss within the battleground state of Michigan.
“Michigan FINALLY cleaned its voter rolls of 330,000 useless individuals and non-citizens,” mentioned an Oct. 19 X submit. “Regardless of this herculean effort the state STILL has 100,000 extra registered voters than eligible residents. This creates an enormous threat of election (fraud).”
The submit, which had 30 million views as of Oct. 22, appeared to echo an Oct. 18 Fb submit from conservative information outlet The Day by day Wire that mentioned, “Michigan’s voter rolls listing 8.4M voters. There are fewer than 8M voting-age residents within the state.”
Different social media posts repeated the declare.
Billionaire Elon Musk additionally amplified it, posting on X, which he owns, “Michigan has extra registered voters than eligible residents!? Is that true @CommunityNotes?” Musk wrote.
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Musk’s submit has since been marked with a group word that provides context concerning the variety of registered voters in Michigan.
The Fb and Instagram posts had been flagged as a part of Meta’s efforts to fight false information and misinformation on its Information Feed. (Learn extra about our partnership with Meta, which owns Fb, Instagram and Threads.)
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson referred to as out Musk for “spreading harmful disinformation.”
Benson mentioned in her Oct. 19 X submit that Michigan has 7.2 million lively registered voters, and the state had a voting age inhabitants of seven.9 million as of 2023. U.S. Census Bureau knowledge backs her inhabitants determine.
“Musk is pushing a deceptive quantity that features 1.2 million inactive data slated for removing in accordance with the regulation,” Benson wrote.
PolitiFact contacted the Michigan secretary of state’s workplace however didn’t obtain a reply earlier than publication.
Michigan’s Voter Data Middle web site mentioned there have been 8,441,536 registered voters within the state, as of Oct. 21. However this quantity doesn’t replicate how many individuals vote in Michigan as a result of it consists of inactive voters.
For instance, when election mail despatched to a voter is returned as undeliverable, Michigan election officers word that the voter may need moved and ship a discover of voter registration cancellation to that voter’s tackle. After this discover is distributed, the voter is taken into account inactive and may nonetheless vote till their registration is canceled, the Michigan Division of State web site says.
By state and federal regulation, officers should cancel the inactive voter’s registration in the event that they obtain no response to the discover and the voter doesn’t take part within the following two federal election cycles, a interval that would last as long as 4 years. Individuals whose voter registrations are canceled could reregister.
About 340,000 inactive voter registrations in Michigan are slated for cancellation in 2025, and about 258,000 inactive registrations can be canceled in 2027, in accordance with the Voter Data Middle web site.
Moreover these practically 600,000 inactive voters slated for cancellation, Michigan’s voter rolls embrace different inactive registrations for voters who may need died or moved, the Michigan Division of State web site says.
Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum additionally responded on X to a query about Michigan’s voter rolls. She supplied further causes Michigan has extra registered voters than eligible voters, together with:
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When Michigan residents get hold of, renew or replace their driver’s license or state ID, their voter registrations are routinely added or up to date, until they decide out.
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Beginning this 12 months, 16- and 17-year-olds can preregister to vote in Michigan.
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The state’s voter rolls embrace army and abroad voters residing overseas whose final U.S. tackle was in Michigan.
PolitiFact has fact-checked comparable false claims earlier than, and voting consultants informed us that oversized voter rolls don’t sign fraud. Specialists mentioned it’s extra probably that these prolonged voter rolls consequence from federal and state legal guidelines that forestall election officers from eradicating voters too shortly.
Our ruling
Social media posts mentioned Michigan has “extra registered voters than eligible residents. This creates an enormous threat of election fraud.”
Michigan’s State Division mentioned there are about 8.4 million registered voters within the state, which has a voting-age inhabitants of about 7.9 million. There are seemingly extra registered voters than eligible voters as a result of the voter rolls embrace inactive voter registrations.
However these inactive registrations don’t imply ineligible voters are collaborating in elections. Michigan election officers take away inactive voters from the rolls after a sure interval in accordance with state and federal legal guidelines.
We charge this declare False.
