Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Thursday that her office had charged five non-U.S. citizens with illegally voting in Michigan during the November 2024 general election.
Nessel's office also charged a U.S. citizen who allegedly registering her noncitizen husband to vote.
The attorney general's office said it had investigated 38 cases involving suspected noncitizen voting or similar allegations in elections held between 2009 and 2025. In addition to the six cases in which charges were announced Thursday, the office said it had closed 10 cases without charges, and 22 remained under investigation.
Nessel said her office investigates all claims of noncitizen voting, even though such cases were rare compared with the tens of millions of ballots cast in Michigan during the years covered by the investigations.
The charges, she said, "reflect the severity of the allegations, the sanctity of our democracy, and the tremendous consequences of voting illegally."
Republicans, both nationally and in Michigan have been pushing for stricter requirements to verify citizenship when people register to vote. Democrats have countered that falsely affirming citizenship on a voter registration application is already a felony and that additional requirements could disenfranchise eligible voters.
