LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Five non-citizens are facing charges after allegedly voting in Michigan’s 2024 general election.

Democratic Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced the charges Thursday. In addition, one U.S. citizen allegedly registered a non-citizen spouse to vote. Nessel said her office’s investigation of 22 open cases referred in 2025 and 2026 remains ongoing.

“In my office, we’ve always taken election crimes seriously, and prosecute attacks on our voting systems to the fullest extent of the law,” said Attorney General Nessel. “We’re upholding election integrity by investigating all claims of non-citizen voters, as rare as they are, and holding bad actors accountable when they refuse to abide by the laws that keep our elections safe and secure.”

A nonpartisan issue.

It’s a move that’s being applauded across party lines. Anthony Forlini, Republican candidate for Michigan Secretary of State, exposed one of those non-citizen voters in January. The Macomb County Clerk cross-checked the names with his jury pool and discovered the name.

Forlini said, “As our top Executive for elections this should not have been overlooked and ignored. Thank you to Attorney General Nessel for standing with me finally taking this non-partisan issue seriously.”

Michigan lawmakers to Sen. Thune: Pass the SAVE Act.

Nessel’s announcement came after Michigan lawmakers sent a letter to U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) and urged him to help the Senate pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act. The measure would require proof of citizenship when registering to vote and photo ID when voting.

“How many non-citizens will have to vote in our elections before Democrats recognize it as the crisis it is?” said State Rep. Rachelle Smit (R-Martin), a former local clerk who signed her name to that letter. “I truly believe Michigan is the epicenter of the problem. We have a Democrat Secretary of State self-reporting that non-citizens voted under her leadership and then a Democrat Attorney General charging those non-citizens because the crimes were too blatant to ignore.”

Smit added, “Can you imagine how many more non-citizens we would find voting in our elections if we had a serious Attorney General or Secretary of State who wouldn’t treat the crisis like a non-issue?”

Smit also called the charges “the tip of the iceberg” in light of Democrats downplaying the concerns for years.

“Unfortunately, the reality is that you have one party that wants to see secure elections and another who benefits from the chaos,” Smit said, referring to the Democratic Party.

Benson and the voter rolls.

The news of the charges comes as GOP gubernatorial candidate John James announced State Rep. Jay DeBoyer (R-Clay Township) as his running mate. DeBoyer is the chair of the Michigan House Oversight Committee and has investigated voter fraud allegations under Democratic Secretary of State and gubernatorial candidate Jocelyn Benson.

Benson has repeatedly said Michigan’s elections are safe and secure and has delayed cleaning up the state’s voter rolls. In addition, she called Forlini’s concerns over non-citizens voting in elections “reckless.”