Michigan Targeted on Conservative Group's Dead Voters List

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A conservative political group says Michigan has more counties than any other state in the country on its list of places that have more registered voters than living residents eligible to vote.

Michigan had 24 of the 141 counties cited in the report by the Public Interest Legal Foundation, which sent statutory notice letters to election officials in 21 states informing them that they’re not properly maintaining voter registration lists.

The letters are a prerequisite to bringing a lawsuit against those counties under Section 8 of the federal National Voter Registration Act, the PILF said in a statement.

Other states targeted by the group are Kentucky (18), Illinois (17), Indiana (11), Alabama (10), Colorado (10), Texas (9), Nebraska (7), New Mexico (5), South Dakota (5), Kansas (4), Mississippi (4), Louisiana (3), West Virginia (3), Georgia (2), Iowa (2), Montana (2), North Carolina (2), Arizona, Missouri, New York (1 each).

In a statement, PILF lawyer and president J. Christian Adams says poorly maintained voter registration rolls provide “the perfect environment for voter fraud,” especially in close elections.

But there may be more to the story, writes Nancy Kaffer, a columnist for the Detroit Free Press.

In Leelanau county, whose population is only 21,747, 109 percent (19,611) of adults are registered to vote. The more important numbers, Kaffer writes, are those who actually voted. In a statewide election earlier this year, for example, only 6,291 Leelanau County voters turned out.

Mark Grebner of Lansing-based Practical Political Consulting, told Kaffer there’s more bluster than substance in the foundation’s report.

“We’ve tracked a bunch of these down, and boy, are they not interesting,” he said.

Grebner, formerly an Ingham County commissioner, said the problem is mostly one of information not getting where it should be. For example, the federal National Voting Registration Act of 1992, or “motor voter” act, linked the issuance of driver’s licenses and state-issued ID cards to voter registration.

But when people move out of state, the new state of residence don’t always send that information back to Michigan officials. Death certificates also don’t always make it to election officials, he said.

Another possible explanation is that several of the counties highlighted in Michigan are vacation spots, and primary residences documented by the U.S. Census and voter registration may not always match, Grebner said.

Here are the Michigan counties and the percent of eligible voters who are registered:

Leelanau County, 109 percent; Roscommon, Charlevoix, Ostego, Ontonagon and Antrim counties, 107 percent; Dickinson and Emmet counties, 106 percent; Genesee, Iosco, Kalkaska and Berrien counties, 105 percent; Keweenaw, Benzie, Mackinac, and Gladwin counties, 104 percent; Alcona and Gogebic counties, 103 percent; Cheboygan and Menominee counties, 102 percent; Montmorency, Saginaw, Midland and Wayne counties, 101 percent.