A Chinese college student who is not a U.S. citizen cast an illegal vote on Sunday — and Michigan election officials will still count the vote.
The 19-year-old — who is legally present in the country studying at the University of Michigan but not a citizen — registered to vote on Sunday, having “signed a document identifying himself as a U.S. citizen,” according to The Detroit News. The student then cast a ballot which “was entered into the tabulator.” Ann Arbor City Administrator Milton Dohoney Jr. said in an email to council members that “based upon the scenario that we’re hearing this morning, the student was fully aware of what he was doing, and that it was not legal,” according to The Detroit News.
The student has been charged with “Unauthorized Elector Attempting To Vote” and “Perjury — Making a False Affidavit for Purpose of Securing Voter Registration,” according to Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.
While noncitizen voting is illegal, the student’s vote will ultimately still count. That’s because ballots are secret, meaning names aren’t attached to the ballot itself. Once a vote is cast and run through a tabulator, it is impossible to identify who cast the ballot.
Yet Benson, in a joint statement with Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit, still claimed that Michigan’s elections are “secure” and that “noncitizen voting is an extremely isolated and rare event.”
But just because something is “rare” doesn’t mean it’s not happening — or that steps shouldn’t be taken to prevent
