Potential ballot proposal seeks proof of citizenship for Michigan voters

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A new proposal from a top Michigan House Republican seeks to require would-be voters to provide proof that they are U.S. citizens when they register.

The proposal to amend the state constitution isn’t likely to pass the Legislature with required two-thirds support, but conservatives are already gearing up for a petition drive to try to put the proposal before voters on the 2026 ballot.

The proposed amendment is the latest in a growing movement across the United States to create barriers to noncitizen voting, even though there’s little evidence that a significant number of noncitizens try to vote. Federal laws already ban noncitizens from voting in elections, and the risks for them are high, including felony charges and the loss of their residency status.

Federal law, though, doesn’t require proof of citizenship to register. The federal voter registration form only asks for voters to self-attest their eligibility and asks for a Social Security or driver’s license number to verify identity.

The House joint resolution from Rep. Bryan Posthumus, a Republican from Rockford and the House majority floor leader, would require anyone who registers to vote starting on Dec. 18, 2026, to verify that they are U.S. citizens. Voters who register without that documentation may present those documents later to their community election officials or the secretary of state’s office. Those who have not confirmed their citizenship in time for the election would be required to cast a provisional ballot, which would only be counted if their citizenship is verified within six days after an election.

But the bill would go beyond just newly registering voters. It would require the state to “use an ongoing systematic process” to continually affirm that the people in the qualified voter file — the state’s record of everyone registered to vote — are U.S. citizens. That means retroactive verification for the more than 8 million people on Michigan’s rolls.

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Those who are identified as noncitizens would be notified within a week and then have 60 days to verify their citizenship or be removed from the rolls. Citizenship can be verified with a state ID or the last four digits of a person’s Social Security number, according to the text of the joint amendment, which more than 40 other Republicans signed on to. The state must then “use all reasonable efforts” to verify citizenship, which can include checking with the federal government.

Arizona is the only state to enforce proof-of-citizenship requirements for voters. Because federal courts have consistently ruled that requiring documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote violates federal law, Arizona has split its voter roll in two, creating a list of federal-only voters who have not shown proof of citizenship. These voters are barred from voting in local and state races.

That federal-only list is a tiny percentage of Arizona’s population, but a Votebeat analysis in December found that it disproportionately affected voters who live on college campuses, on Native land, and at homeless shelters. And it has created headaches for voters and election administrators who have struggled to effectively enforce the legislation because of a raft of technical problems.

Proposal contains a stricter voter ID requirement

The Michigan proposal would also have voters verify their identity with a photo ID when casting their ballots under this proposal. Current Michigan law requires voters to show ID, but if they do not have one, they can sign an affidavit attesting to their identity.

The ID section of the proposal largely aligns with existing law regarding acceptable IDs, which include those issued by federal, state, local, and tribal governments, as well as educational institutions. However, it introduces a key addition: a new process allowing individuals to obtain a free ID for voting if they cannot afford other forms of identification. The most significant change, though, is that voters who cast a ballot without an ID would have up to six days after the election to present one for their vote to be counted.

“What the constitutional amendment does is it builds in the guardrails that will make it so a foreign national can no longer vote,” Posthumus told reporters Wednesday in Lansing, claiming that a loophole in the system allowed someone who wasn’t a citizen to vote in 2024.

Requiring proof of citizenship in order to vote has become a central cause for Republicans around the country who have sought to draw attention to the issue of noncitizen voting. But in Michigan, certain Republican leaders are especially focused on the case of a University of Michigan student from China who is charged with voting in Michigan’s November general election, despite not being a citizen. The student, 19-year-old Haoxiang Gao, is facing felony charges and is scheduled to go before a judge again next month.

Experts note that this single instance is not a sign of widespread illegal voting and say that noncitizen voting is rare for a variety of reasons — chiefly because it presents significant risk to the voter. More than 200 political scientists signed a letter in 2017 challenging past studies suggesting noncitizen voting fraud may be possible, leading an author of one of those original studies to walk it back.

Michael Miller, an associate professor of political science at Barnard College and one of the authors of that letter, said that there are very few noncitizens who would consider voting but then be deterred by an effort such as the one proposed. What is more likely, he said, is that people who are citizens could be removed and struggle to get back on the voting rolls.

“It’s a solution in search of a problem,” he said. “You’re looking for a population that really doesn’t exist, but in the process, you are very likely to throw up hurdles that will stop citizens and otherwise qualified voters from casting their ballots.”

Opponents see threat to eligible voters

Noncitizens even registering to vote is quite rare. A 2024 review in Ohio found fewer than 600 of the 8 million people registered in the state were not citizens. In that instance, 138 of those people had potentially voted in the last year, officials said. A similar 2024 review in Georgia found that 20 of the more than 8.2 million people registered to vote there aren’t U.S. citizens. Only nine of those 20 had voted in previous elections, state officials said.

There is no evidence that any of those people are part of a significant or coordinated effort to undermine elections. Despite that, many Republicans see such a possibility as a threat to election security in Michigan and elsewhere.

“We don’t need a lot of fraud to want to prevent it,” Rep. Ann Bollin, a Republican from Brighton Township and a former city clerk, told Votebeat earlier this month.

In addition to the administrative headaches such requirements can cause, they also risk preventing eligible citizens from registering to vote. Kansas attempted such a requirement in 2015, holding more than 30,000 voter registrations in limbo over a failure to present such documentation. A federal court later overturned the law.

“This is Scooby Doo-level villainy,” said Quentin Turner, executive director of Common Cause Michigan. “What they’re attempting to do is under the guise of election security, but if you take off the mask, it’s voter suppression, regardless of the regulations. This would make it harder for legal citizens to be able to vote, period.”

It could affect different categories of people, Turner said, including college students and indigenous groups, but also those who have changed their last name upon marriage, who lost their documentation in a disaster, or who weren’t born in a hospital.

Michael Siegrist, Canton Township’s clerk, wrote in a text message that noncitizen voting is so rare in Michigan because of the state’s “fantastic, secure voter registration system and robust criminal penalties and immigration consequences.”

“If you enjoy inefficiency and bureaucracy, while also failing to meet your goal of a more secure election, these proposals are perfect for you,” said Siegrist, an elected Democrat and an outspoken leader on voting laws around the state. “You can count me out.”

Groups gear up for petition drive

Posthumus’s proposed constitutional amendment would require the support of two-thirds of both chambers in order to go before voters next fall, alongside the races for governor, secretary of state, and attorney general. That’s unlikely. The Michigan Senate is still controlled by Democrats, and Republicans have a slim majority in the House.

The proposal is likely to instead result in a citizen petition effort to get it on the ballot. A group named “Prove It, Michigan” is already lined up to take on that effort. The group is run by the Committee to Protect Voters' Rights. According to state campaign finance records, it shares a treasurer with Protect My Vote, the group formed in 2018 to oppose that year’s Proposal 3. Prop 3 amended the state’s constitution to, among other things, allow for automatic voter registration for anyone getting a state ID, expand no-reason absentee voting and allow for same-day registration.

Today is the day!

My constitutional amendment REQUIRING proof-of-citizenship to register to vote — and photo ID to cast a ballot — across ALL of Michigan has officially been introduced!

Over 80 percent of the people want this done. So that’s what they’re going to get. pic.twitter.com/7sdbmgQt02

— Rep. Bryan Posthumus (@posthumus_bryan) January 29, 2025

On an episode of the “Enjoyer” podcast that aired last week, Posthumus told host James Dickson that he was “utterly floored” that a person who wasn’t a citizen was able to vote in the 2024 election, referring to Gao.

“We have to protect the integrity of our election system,” he said, arguing that it has been chipped away at in the last few years, as evidenced by Gao’s successfully cast ballot . “We need to put in place the guardrails to prevent that from happening.”

Those who watch the episode on YouTube are greeted by a “topical context” panel providing an explainer on mail voting from the Bipartisan Policy Center, part of the platform’s effort to provide more information on “videos related to topics prone to misinformation.”

“Mail ballots submitted by voters who meet eligibility and validity requirements are counted in every election,” it reads. “Before they are counted, election officials vigorously verify the validity of every mail ballot submission.”

Jordyn Hermani, a reporter for Votebeat partner Bridge Michigan, contributed.

Hayley Harding is a reporter for Votebeat based in Michigan. Contact Hayley at [email protected].