A lawsuit alleges Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Bureau of Elections Director Jonathan Brater, and 16 county clerks did not maintain accurate voter registration records.
The complaint, filed Tuesday in federal court, claims the state violated the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).
Conservative activist Tony Daunt, executive director of the Michigan Freedom Fund, said Leelanau County’s number of registered voters is 102 percent, which exceeds the number of citizens old enough to vote.
Daunt’s complaint uses United States’ census data between 2014 and 2018.
The lawsuit says 15 other counties have voter registration rates between 90 percent and 97.5 percent of adult citizens, which are “suspiciously high” compared to the 2018 election statewide registration rate of 73.4 percent.
“That figure far eclipses the national and statewide voter registration rate in recent elections,” the lawsuit says.
The 15 counties were Antrim, Benzie, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Emmet, Grand Traverse, Iosco, Kalkaska, Keweenaw, Livingston, Mackinac, Oakland, Otsego, Roscommon, and Washtenaw County.
“Because Defendants do not maintain accurate voter rolls, Daunt reasonably fears that ineligible voters can and do vote in Michigan elections. Those votes will dilute his legitimate vote,” the lawsuit states. “And Michigan’s inaccurate rolls undermine Daunt’s confidence in the integrity of Michigan elections, which also burdens his right to vote.”
According to a statement released by Benson’s spokesperson Jake Rollow: “The suit seeks to gain media attention using debunked claims and bad statistics to delegitimize our elections.”
He added: “It compares old census data and registration numbers that make no attempt to distinguish between active and inactive registration, and asserts the false notion that voter registration rates should be low.”
Rollow said almost all eligible citizens who get a state ID or driver’s license register to vote.
“As with other states, there is a federally mandated delay before some registration records are canceled to ensure responsible list maintenance,” he said.
The complaint accuses the state of keeping people on the qualified voter list who have died or changed residences.
The lawsuit asks the court to find the state in violation of the NVRA and to remove ineligible voters before the November 2020 election.
