Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division has sent a strongly worded letter to Michigan's Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson, cautioning her about federal law requirements for maintaining clean voter rolls and ensuring only eligible U.S. citizens vote in federal elections.
The letter, dated July 7, 2026, was sent directly to Benson, Michigan's chief election officer, and reminds her of multiple federal statutes, including the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), the Voting Rights Act (VRA), and the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). The letter explicitly threatens her with potential criminal liability for election officials who knowingly allow non-citizens to remain on voter rolls or cast ballots.
The letter warns that any election officer, including the chief election officer of the state, who knowingly retains non-citizens on the state's voter rolls or facilitates non-citizens in receiving and casting ballots could be subject to criminal liability. This is in response to a recent investigation that revealed at least six non-citizens on the DHS "worst of the worst" list were registered to vote in Michigan and in some cases actually voted, including in the 2024 election.
The letter specifically states that knowingly retaining non-citizens on Michigan's voter rolls and sending them ballots, and then counting those ballots, would constitute the "procurement, casting, or tabulation" of ballots that are known to be false in violation of section 12(2)(B) of the NVRA.
This is not the first time concerns have been raised about the accuracy of Michigan's voter rolls. In a previous instance, it was reported that Benson had told clerks to ignore signature matching on absentee ballots and applications, and sent out unrequested absentee voter applications to every eligible and ineligible "voter" in the state.
The threat issued by Dhillon applies to Jocelyn Benson and to both state and local election officials, and serves as a reminder that federal law mandates that state and local election officials properly maintain election records and undertake certain actions to ensure that only eligible U.S. citizens cast votes in elections for federal office.
