LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Fifteen non-citizens voting in Michigan elections is 15 too many, according to Michigan House Speaker Pro Tempore Rachelle Smit (R-Shelbyville). The lawmaker and chair of the Michigan House Election Integrity Committee said she won’t let Michiganders forget about Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s recent admission from her own department that 15 non-citizens voted in the last election.

“It’s deeply troubling to me that [Benson] told Congress that non-citizens weren’t voting in our elections just a couple months before November,” Smit said. “Now she admits they are voting in our elections, and at least 15 of them had their ballots tabulated and counted. That’s 15 Michigan taxpaying residents who had their votes illegally cancelled out by people who shouldn’t have been at the polls to begin with.”

Non-citizen voting is happening.

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Benson’s office conducted an audit which found that 15 non-citizens voted in last year’s election. One of those non-citizens included a 19-year-old Chinese citizen and University of Michigan student who cast a vote last October. His guilty conscious, not election protocols, alerted officials to his vote.  He now faces voter fraud charges in a case that is progressing slowly through the courts.

The news of Benson’s admission comes after a report from the Department of State and a recent executive order from President Donald Trump that requires proof of citizenship for voting in U.S. elections. Trump revealed that millions of non-citizens were issued social security numbers by the Biden Administration ahead of the 2024 Presidential Election.

Benson doesn’t want to SAVE voting rights.

Benson, in her role as Secretary of State and newly declared Democratic gubernatorial candidate, has publicly attacked the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE), claiming it interferes with a citizen’s right to vote.

Smit is a former township clerk. She said she believes citizenship should be mandatory and the voter rolls should be cleaned up.

Benson spent a good amount of time leading up to the November 2024 election gaslighting Michiganders and making fun of them on social media because of their concern over illegals voting in U.S. elections.

Zero is the number Michiganders deserve.

Rep. Smit said Michiganders have every reason to be concerned about election integrity in the state. “Proof of citizenship should absolutely be required to vote in our elections, and I am sure the vast majority of my fellow election clerks would agree,” Smit said. “Secretary Benson and her team should complete a thorough review of our voter rolls and ensure that only living U.S. citizens, who reside in Michigan, are able to validly cast a vote at the polls in the future. Our nation is only sovereign if our elections are secure and subject only to our citizens.”