Michigan House Republicans are moving to amend the state Constitution to ensure only U.S. citizens can vote in the state’s elections by requiring photo identification to cast ballots.
“This is a no-brainer,” sponsor Rep. Bryan Posthumus, R-Rockford, said in a statement. “And people should have to show ID when voting to prove that they are who they say they are. That’s just common sense.”
Posthumus, the House Majority floor leader, noted House Joint Resolution B he introduced on Tuesday would also require the state to provide photo IDs to citizens experiencing hardship free of charge.
Go Ad-Free, Get Content, Go Premium Today - $1 Trial
The proposal would require anyone registering to vote after Dec. 18, 2026 to provide proof of citizenship, and would mandate voters present a photo ID when voting in person.
Voters who cast absentee ballots would be required to provide a copy of their photo ID, a driver’s license number, state personal identification number, or the last four digits of their social security number. Voters without an ID would still be allowed to cast a provisional ballot that would not be counted until their citizenship is verified, with a deadline of six days after an election.
The resolution would also require the Secretary of State to periodically confirm everyone on the statewide qualified voter file is a U.S. citizen, and that registration lists used at polling locations match the statewide qualified voter file.
The proposal is aimed in part at protecting legal votes from being negated by illegal votes. Posthumus pointed to a Chinese national at the University of Michigan cast an illegal ballot in October that would have went unnoticed by the Secretary of State, had the student not attempted to retrieve his vote.
Go Ad-Free, Get Content, Go Premium Today - $1 Trial
That vote was counted in the 2024 election, which came with relaxed voting rules championed by Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and approved by Democrats who controlled both chambers of the Michigan Legislature.
Benson has also steadfastly refused to purge the state’s bloated voter rolls – currently at more than 105% of the voting age population – of registrations for folks who have died, gone to prison, moved away or are otherwise ineligible.
“No citizen should ever have their vote canceled out by a non-citizen voting the opposite direction,” Posthumus said.
“What the constitutional amendment does is it builds in the guardrails that will make it so a foreign national can no longer vote,” Posthumus told reporters with Bridge Michigan and other outlets on Wednesday.
MORE NEWS: Rep. Ken Borton blasts DNR over proposed fee increases, threatens to ‘zero out their budget’
The proposal would require a two-thirds vote from members of both the Michigan House and Senate to put it on the ballot for voters to decide. It would not need Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s signature.
The legislative approval would require 74 votes in the House and 26 in the Senate. Republicans currently have a 58-52 seat majority in the lower chamber, while Democrats hold a one seat majority in the Senate 19-18, with one vacancy.
The resolution could also appear on the ballot if citizens gather enough petition signatures to make it happen.
The voter advocacy group Prove It Michigan! is already collecting contacts for residents to pursue that route if lawmakers fail to take up the cause.
“If Lansing doesn’t fix this, WE THE PEOPLE will,” according to the group’s website. “If the Michigan Legislature won’t pass this constitutional amendment to put it to a vote of the people, we’ll launch a drive to collect the signatures it takes for voters to fix this once and for all.”
A ballot proposal to amend the Michigan Constitution would require 446,198 signatures to appear on the 2026 ballot, according to Ballotpedia.
Michigan voters approved a constitutional amendment known as Proposal 2 in 2022 amid a barrage of advertising that alleged the measure would require voter ID to cast ballots. Once approved, deceived voters realized the measure also included provisions that allow residents to circumvent that requirement with a signed affidavit.
Groups behind the 2022 ballot referendum are now attacking Posthumous’ proposal, with Voters Not Politicians Executive Director Jamie Lyons-Eddy suggesting to Michigan Advance that non-citizen voting is a nonissue driven by “nonsensical political posturing that risks disenfranchising eligible voters.”