WEST OLIVE, Mich. — A 19-year-old University of Michigan student from China is now facing criminal charges related to casting a ballot as a non-U.S. citizen.
At an on-campus early voting center, the student used a university ID card to register, providing documents proving residency there in Ann Arbor.
They signed a document claiming U.S. citizenship and submitted a ballot.
Because they had already put that ballot into a tabulator by the time his citizenship was brought into question, his vote will be counted.
FOX 17 sat down with Ottawa County Clerk Justin Roebuck Thursday to learn more about what happens after your ballot is submitted.
“The multiple opportunities that voters have, have absolutely increased the challenges for election administration," Roebuck said Thursday. “But, ultimately, it is a great opportunity. It's a great opportunity for our voters to be able to make their voice heard.”
Once you cast your ballot into the tabulator, it goes into a sealed and secure compartment: the ballot box.
This applies to early voters who come in to physically drop off their ballots and anyone submitting a traditional ballot on Election Day.
That box is eventually emptied out on election night, once the polls are closed.
A bipartisan team empties the ballot box in a public setting, allowing observers and members of the public to witness. The ballots are then transferred into a secure container, sealed with a tamper-evident seal, and the seal number is recorded.
Ballots are stored for 22 months, as required by law.
To ensure security and privacy, ballots are tracked using numbered stubs that are detached before voting. This allows election officials to verify the number of ballots received and left over.
"The beauty of the secret ballot is we truly don't know,” Roebuck explained. “We do not have a method using the secret ballot process, and we would not want that to attach a voter's name to the physical ballot.”
Voter registration can occur up until Election Day at 8 p.m., requiring photo ID and proof of residency.
Federal law says election officials cannot require someone registering to provide documented proof of their U.S. citizenship.
If someone does not have a Michigan driver’s license, they must sign a legal affidavit declaring they are in fact a U.S. citizen.
“It is incumbent on the voter under the penalty of a five-year felony to self-attest to the fact that they are of legal voting age and that they are a U.S. citizen," says Roebuck. “For a non-citizen, this is truly a serious crime, and it is something that would ultimately result in deportation upon conviction.”
Michigan voters have various options to return their early voting ballots:
- Physically walking it into an early voting site
- Dropping it off at the clerk's office or a drop box location
Visit michigan.gov/vote to:
- Check registration status
- Find polling locations and hours
- View sample ballots
In Ottawa County, you can also check wait times for early voting centers using the line management tool on miottawa.org/earlyvoting.
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