Secretary Benson continues transparent voter registration list maintenance
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LANSING, Mich. ? Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson today launched the next phase of transparent, ongoing voter registration list maintenance, announcing that the Bureau of Elections will make available in advance the list of voter registrations to be cancelled in accordance with federal law.?
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?Michigan?s elections are among the most secure and accurate in the nation thanks to the professionalism of the more than 1,600 Republican, Democratic, and nonpartisan election clerks across the state and the numerous security protocols built into our elections system,? said Benson. ?Today we continue our work to transparently update our voter registration list by announcing and making available in advance the list of registrations slated for cancellation to prevent the erroneous removal of any eligible voter from the Qualified Voter File.?
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Nearly 100,000 registrations are slated for cancellation because the voter no longer lives at the registration address. Either these individuals surrendered a Michigan driver?s license to another state or election officials received election mail returned undeliverable or other information giving good reason to believe the voter had changed their address. Before the 2020 election, they were sent notice that their registration would be subject to cancellation if they did not respond or engage in any voter activity in the subsequent two federal election cycles (2020 and 2022). The two-federal-cycle waiting period is required under state and federal law. The registrations are now slated for cancellation in mid-March.
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To ensure that voters who still live at their registered address have an additional opportunity to prevent cancellation, citizens and civic groups can now request a copy of the list to review and notify local clerks of any errors or registrations that should be updated rather than cancelled.? While the Bureau continues cross-checking and finalizing the list, it can be requested by emailing [email protected]. Copies of the list will be sent in mid-February. There is no fee required and the list does not include any information that is not publicly available through a public records request of the Qualified Voter File. It includes only the voter?s name, address, and birth year. Voters can also always check their own registration status online at Michigan.gov/Vote or by contacting their local clerk.
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Michigan voters whose registrations are cancelled can re-register at any time, including up to and on Election Day. Michigan residents who conduct identification or driver?s license transactions with the Department of State are registered to vote automatically unless they opt out.
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There are more than 400,000 voter registrations currently slated for cancellation in 2025. This number is higher than prior years because Secretary Benson sent election mail to every registered voter in 2020, and for those whose mail was returned undeliverable, the state sent a notice of cancellation prior to the 2022 election. No statewide election mailing had been conducted in the previous decade.
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Since 2019, the Bureau of Elections and clerks across the state have canceled 419,990 voter registrations of people who have died, 177,273 registrations belonging to those who received a cancellation notice based on a change of residency and did not respond to the notice or engage in voter activity in the two-federal-cycle waiting period, and 10,448 registrations for people who requested to have their own records cancelled.
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In 2019, Michigan joined the Electronic Registration Information Center, a national consortium that compares the voter registration lists of dozens of member states to identify voters who have died or moved to other states. Michigan now uses this data, in addition to information in the state driver file for further maintenance of the voter list.
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More information on voter registration list maintenance and cancellation procedures is available at Michigan.gov/Vote.
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