REPORT: Chinese citizen charged after allegedly voting illegally in key state — but vote will still count

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From Detroit News: A University of Michigan student who is from China and not a U.S. citizen allegedly voted Sunday in Ann Arbor and is being charged with two crimes, six days before a pivotal presidential election.

The filing of the charges was revealed Wednesday in a statement from Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s office and the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s office. The press release didn’t identify the student, describing him only as “a non-U.S. citizen.”

The 19-year-old from China was legally present in the United States but not a citizen, which meant he couldn’t legally cast a ballot, according to information from the Michigan Secretary of State’s office. He registered to vote on Sunday using his UM student identification and other documentation establishing residency in Ann Arbor, signed a document identifying himself as a U.S. citizen and his ballot was entered into a tabulator, according to the Secretary of State’s office.

The ballot was cast at an early voting site at the University of Michigan Museum of Art on State Street, according to the Ann Arbor city administrator.

The report explains that the Chinese student later reached out to the local clerk’s office, asking if he could get his ballot back.

Here’s the real kicker: even though the student, a green card holder, voted illegally, his vote allegedly can’t be rescinded and will still count in the election.

The Detroit News writes:

The student’s ballot is expected to count in the upcoming election — although it was illegally cast — because there is no way for election officials to retrieve it once it’s been put through a tabulator, according to two sources familiar with Michigan election laws. The setup is meant to prevent ballots from being tracked back to an individual voter.

Milton Dohoney Jr., the city’s administrator, wrote in an email, “Through a series of actions, the student was apparently able to register, receive a ballot and cast a vote. Based upon the scenario that we’re hearing this morning, the student was fully aware of what he was doing, and that it was not legal.”

The report also explains that proof of citizenship is not required to register to vote in Michigan – only proof of residency:

Under a 2018 ballot proposal that voters approved with 67% support, people can register to vote in Michigan up to and including on Election Day. Proof of residency for voting can include a driver’s license, state identification card, a utility bill or university records, according to the Secretary of State’s website.

In a press release on Wednesday, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit, both Democrats, submitted a joint statement acknowledging the “noncitizen voting case.”

“Noncitizen voting is an extremely isolated and rare event. Investigations in multiple states and nationwide have found no evidence of large numbers of noncitizens registering to vote. Even less common is a noncitizen actually casting a ballot. When it does happen, we take it extremely seriously. Our elections are secure and Michigan’s state and local election officials carefully follow the law,” they claimed in the statement.

“Let this be clear: Voting records are public – any noncitizen who attempts to vote fraudulently in Michigan will be exposing themselves to great risk and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” they declared.

But his vote still counts. And, the student is being represented by UM Student Legal Services.

Fox News contributor Andrew McCarthy, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, weighed in on the case.  Watch below:

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