Efforts to require proof of citizenship to vote in Michigan are underway after the Board of State Canvassers on Friday approved ballot language for 2026.

The Committee to Protect Voters’ Rights behind the effort has 180 days to collect more than 445,000 signatures to get the constitutional amendment on the 2026 ballot, while lawmakers in Lansing consider the same, WPBN reports.

“Any number of illegal votes being cast is a problem, and if we have a system that allows one, two, 17 individuals who are not supposed be voting in our state, who are allowed to cast ballots, then we have an issue with the system,” Paul Cordes, one of two Republicans on the four member board said at the five-hour meeting on Friday.

While the meeting was intended to consider language used for petitions to collect signatures for the ballot proposal, the board’s two Democrats and aligned voting rights activists focused largely on claims that requiring proof of citizenship to vote will disenfranchise legal voters, according to WILX.

“Language like this, which we’ve seen in other states, it does end up taking away rights from people who are legally able to vote,” Democratic board member Heather Cummings said.

Democratic Vice Chair Mary Ellen Gurewitz fretted over the impact the proposal could have on married women whose names don’t match their birth certificate, as it would require them to verify their identity with a marriage license.

Others highlighted the same issue for folks who are homeless, with disabilities, in rural areas, or who may struggle to provide a birth certificate or other proof of citizenship required by the proposal.

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“The 100-word summary submitted by the Committee to Protect Voters’ Rights is neither true nor impartial in how it describes the proposal,” activist Mariah Bryant told the board. “It hides the fact that eligible Michigan voters will face tremendous difficulty obtaining the proof of citizenship documents this proposal would require, and that there is no clear path to how to prove citizenship if your birth certificate doesn’t match your current legal name.”

Charles Spies, attorney representing the CPVR, countered that the proposal doesn’t remove any rights, but rather ensures legal votes aren’t negated by illegal votes, a concern echoed by several members of the public who addressed the board on Friday, Michigan Advance reports.

Spies also noted married women must verify their identity for a variety of other reasons, from changing their driver’s license to updating their bank account information. In addition to requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote, and a photo ID to cast a ballot, the proposal would require lawmakers to create a process for residents who can’t afford the documentation.

The Board of State Canvassers ultimately voted to approve language for the circulating petitions after several revisions.

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The language reads:

“Constitutional amendment to: add requirement to verify citizenship by showing a birth certificate, passport and/or other documents for voter registration; eliminate affidavit alternative for those without photo ID when voting; add requirement to provide photo ID or driver’s license or partial social security number to receive our vote in absentee ballot; require Secretary of State to review voter rolls to verify citizens and remove non citizens using documents and government records; prohibit counting ballots from voters without citizenship documents and photo ID unless voters show documents within six days after election; require hardship program for obtaining required documents at state expense.” 

Friday’s vote follows Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s admission earlier this month that at least 16 suspected noncitizens voted in the 2024 presidential election, and their votes were counted. The April 3 admission conflicted with her own testimony before Congress in September that “there is no evidence that noncitizens are voting.”

Fifteen of the suspected noncitizen votes were uncovered in a Department of State investigation that cross referenced motor vehicle records with the state’s Qualified Voter File. While the review covered the majority of voters who cast ballots with their driver’s license or state ID, it omitted plenty of others who use a different form of identification, such as tribal or student IDs.

The 15 illegal votes, which were counted in the 2024 election because there’s no means to retrieve them, are in addition to another case in October involving Haoxiang Gao, a University of Michigan student from China who cast an illegal ballot in Washtenaw County using his student ID.

That case, exposed only after Gao attempted unsuccessfully to retrieve his ballot, is the product of expanded voting privileges in Michigan approved by deceived voters in 2018 and 2022 that make it impossible to verify identification before votes are tallied.

The constitutional amendment proposed by the Committee to Protect Voters’ Rights mirrors legislation introduced by state Rep. Bryan Posthumus, R-Rockford, in February. The proposal will appear on the ballot if approved by lawmakers, or if CPVR collects the requisite 445,000 signatures.

Posthumus’ 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 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.

While Benson, who is running her own election to replace a term-limited Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2026, has acknowledged noncitizen voting is a “serious issue,” she’s campaigned against the constitutional amendment, as well as a SAVE Act in Congress that would also require proof of citizenship to vote.

Benson has also steadfastly refused to proactively vet the state’s bloated voter rolls, which currently include more voter registrations than voting age residents.

“While we take all violations of election law very seriously, this tiny fraction of potential cases in Michigan and at the national level do not justify recent efforts to pass laws we know would block tens of thousands of Michigan citizens from voting in future elections,” Benson said earlier this month. “Instead of those failed policies, we will continue to work with lawmakers on reasonable, data-driven efforts to improve security while ensuring that eligible citizens can always make their voice heard.”