Michigan voter registrations saw a 9% increase from July to October, according to new required reporting from Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.
New provisions of Michigan’s Automatic Voter Registration Act went into effect on June 30, 2025, including requirements that all eligible recently released prisoners, tribal members, and Medicaid applicants are automatically registered to vote.
The totals of new automatic voter registrations are as follows:
Under the Freedom of Information Act, Michigan Enjoyer requested the total number of prison releases from the Michigan Department of Corrections referred to the Michigan Secretary of State for voter registration.
Since the new voting registration requirement went into effect, 2,114 paroles have occurred. MDOC was unable to confirm how many of them were transmitted to the Secretary of State for voter registration.
It is also unclear how many voters have been added through Medicaid applications. A separate request to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services was denied, citing that MDHHS “does not possess or maintain records under the description you provided or by other names reasonably known to the Department.”
How is it possible they don’t keep records of how many Medicaid applicants they are sending to the Michigan Secretary of State, which they are now required to do by law? A review of Medicaid Application materials reveals applicants are asked about their voter registration status.
Michigan is now an opt-out state. Unless a person specifically opts out of voter registration, they are automatically registered to vote through routine transactions at the secretary of state.
There were 3,410 opt outs in July; 3,202 opt outs in August; 3,048 opt outs in September; and 3,088 in October—an average of fewer than 1.7% of new automatically registered voters.
Proof of citizenship is not required when applying for State ID or a driver’s license. Michigan clerks are required to auto register new driver’s license or state ID applicants unless during the process they provide documentation that they are not a citizen or opt-out of voting.
Applicants are asked, under penalty of perjury, if they are U.S. citizens. But it’s essentially an honor system, and unless an applicant specifically states they are not a U.S. Citizen, or that they do not want to be added to the voter rolls, they are added.
A similar loophole is how a Chinese national voted in the 2024 election.
As of October, over 500,000 more people are registered to vote than are eligible to vote in the State of Michigan. The next voter roll cleanup isn’t scheduled until 2027, when 202,690 voters are slated for removal.
The math doesn’t add up: How is it possible to add over 180,000 new voters per month to our voter rolls when our current rolls already exceed the Michigan voting-age population?
Jocelyn Benson is currently being sued by the Justice Department for refusing to turn over Michigan’s voter rolls. Hopefully the DOJ can clean them up before Benson supervises her own election for governor next year.
Anna Hoffman is a hockey mom of three living in Ann Arbor. Follow her on X @shoesonplease.
