Lansing — Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s office announced Tuesday morning it will remove more than 318,000 inactive registrations from the state’s voter rolls in April.
The number represents about 4% of the total registered voters in Michigan, where debates over election law have been persistent amid close presidential elections in 2016, 2020 and 2024.
Benson, a Democrat, became the secretary of state in 2019. With the new batch of removals, her office says it has canceled 1.1 million out-of-date voter registrations over the six-year time period. However, some Republicans have called for more deliberate and swift action to update the voter rolls.
“This is a milestone for Michigan’s secure and accessible election system,” Benson said in a statement. “State and local election officials are constantly working to maintain our voter rolls transparently, accurately and in accordance with state and federal law.”
Michigan had about 8.2 million registered voters as of Tuesday, but a total voting age population of about 7.9 million, according to the Secretary of State’s office.
An October Detroit News investigation found dozens of Detroiters who died or moved away decades ago remained on the list of eligible voters in Michigan’s largest city. Election officials said they faced difficulties in trying to keep up with the flow of death notices and driver’s license records.
The Secretary of State’s office said state and federal law requires inactive registrations to remain on the list of qualified voters unless election officials receive reliable information that the voter is no longer eligible to vote, which could include the surrendering of a Michigan driver’s license to another state or election mail sent to the voter being returned to their clerk as un-deliverable.
When election officials receive reliable information that a voter is no longer eligible, federal law requires that the voter receive notice and remain on the voter rolls for two federal election cycles —up to four years — unless they confirm that they have moved, according to the Secretary of State’s office.
There’s no evidence currently available that inactive voter registrations have been used to fraudulently cast ballots in Michigan elections.
In Michigan’s 2024 election, more than 71,000 formerly inactive voters returned to legally cast their vote, according to the Secretary of State’s office.
“This underscores the importance of the notice and waiting period before cancelling registrations belong to voters who might have moved but who might still be Michigan residents,” the Tuesday statement from the Secretary of State’s office said.
Michigan has about 7.3 million active registered voters, according to the Secretary of State’s office. About 5.6 million people cast votes in the 2024 presidential race between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris.
Overall, the state’s list of qualified voters includes about 577,000 inactive registrations that are eventually slated for cancellation, according to the Secretary of State’s office.
cmauger@detroitnews.com
