Michigan officials have charged a Chinese national for allegedly voting in the 2024 elections illegally, and there is reportedly no way for election officials to remove his vote now that it’s been tabulated.
An unidentified University of Michigan student, who is described as a Chinese national and not a U.S. citizen, allegedly registered to vote and cast a ballot in the 2024 general election, according to a Wednesday statement from the Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s office and the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s office. The announcement comes just six days from Election Day, with polls showing Michigan up for grabs.
“We are grateful for the swift action of the clerk in this case, who took the appropriate steps and referred the case to law enforcement,” read a joint statement from Benson and the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office. “We are also grateful to law enforcement for swiftly and thoroughly investigating this case.”
“Anyone who attempts to vote illegally faces significant consequences, including but not limited to arrest and prosecution,” the statement continued.
The individual registered to vote on Sunday, signed a document which identified himself as an American citizen and entered his ballot into a tabulator, according to Benson’s office. However, the University of Michigan student later reached out to his local clerk’s office and asked if he could get his ballot back.
Despite it being an unlawful vote, the Chinese man’s ballot is expected to remain counted in the general election because there is no way for election officials to obtain it now that it’s been put through a tabulator, according to sources familiar with the state’s election laws that spoke with the Detroit News. This is reportedly because ballots are designed to not be tracked back to an individual voter.
A spokesperson for the Michigan Secretary of State’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation on whether the vote could be removed before the conclusion of the general election.
The Chinese national has been charged with perjury, for making a false statement on an affidavit with the intention of securing voter registration, and for attempting to vote as an unauthorized elector, according to Benson’s office. The second crime is a felony that is punishable by up to four years in prison and a fine of $2,000.
News of the alleged incident comes as Michigan remains largely deadlocked in the polls between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. The Real Clear Politics (RCP) polling average shows the two candidates statistically tied, Harris up by half a percentage point.
At the same time, GOP states have battled the Biden-Harris Justice Department in the courtroom over the ability to purge non-citizens from voting rolls. The Justice Department recently forced Alabama to reverse its efforts to clean voter rolls, while the Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed Virginia to keep the non-citizens they removed off the books.
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