In September, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson told Congress “there is no evidence that noncitizens are voting.”

A month later, she announced Haoxiang Gao, a University of Michigan student from China, cast an illegal ballot in Washtenaw County using his student ID.

Then in April, Benson admitted 15 others likely cast illegal votes during the 2024 General Election, bringing the total to at least 16.

On Thursday, the chair of the Michigan House Oversight Committee said the number is likely several times that figure, based on preliminary data reviewed by his office.

“I have in my office some preliminary information … that we’re probably pushing 80 now,” Rep. Jay DeBoyer, R-Clay Twp., said at a Thursday press conference at the capitol. “Not all are necessarily (illegal immigrants), but 80 fraudulent votes that were cast.”

🚨🚨The number of votes cast by non-citizens in the Michigan 2024 election is continuing to grow.

“Remember it was 1, and then it was 15, and then it was 16. I’m telling you right now, it’s near 80,” House Oversight Cmte Chairman Jay DeBoyer told reporters on Thursday. pic.twitter.com/vInoRelVt6

— The Midwesterner (@Th_Midwesterner) April 25, 2025

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“I have information, as were working through this and I’ll be open and transparent with you as we can confirm things, but remember it was one, and then it was 15, and then it was 16. I’m telling you right now it’s near 80,” he said.

“That demonstrates at a systematic problem at the election level that things are not being done appropriately,” DeBoyer said, “yet when Rep. Smit and myself say provide us information so we can determine if those things are being done appropriately, we are a security threat.”

“That is a big deal to me. It’s telling to me,” he said. “It says to me there’s something that’s being hidden. All I’m asking is prove me wrong. Provide me the information. Let us review it.”

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The press conference followed just one day after Benson, who is running her own election to replace term-limited Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2026, told MLive “you’ll see the court get involved” in the oversight committee’s request for election training materials.

DeBoyer last week issued a subpoena for training documents the Secretary of State provides for election clerks to verify Benson is complying with multiple court orders that have found prior guidance unlawful.

The training documents, stored on the Bureau of Elections E-Learning Portal, were initially requested by Speaker Pro Tem Rachelle Smit, R-Martin, on Nov. 7, 2024, and officials replied the request could not be fulfilled. The response prompted Smit to file a Freedom of Information Act request, and the department responded on Nov. 21 that officials could not understand the FOIA.

“Our request was unmistakably clear: simply to be given login credentials to the e-learning portal so we could review the training and instructions provided to Michigan clerks,” Smit said. “Yet, somehow, this was incomprehensible. All of these documents should be public and should not be hidden behind false privileges.”

The November requests came as Benson attempted to console Democrats following President Donald Trump’s election victory, with posts to X about how the “fight’s not over” and pitches for her new book “The Purposeful Warrior: Standing Up for What’s Right When the Stakes are High.”

In early January, Benson’s office informed Smit it would cost nearly $9,000 and require 140 man-hours to produce the requested documents, a response the Republican described as “ridiculous” and “obviously designed to deter my office from scrutinizing its election management.”

On Feb. 6, Smit sent another request for the documents in her capacity as chair of the Committee on Election Integrity for “the most basic legislative purposes,” but was ignored.

It was only after pressure from the House Oversight Committee did Benson’s office agreed to release some of the information with redactions. DeBoyer’s subpoena demands all materials by May 14 without redactions.

Benson spokeswoman Angela Benander told MLive the Secretary of State will not provide “open access to sensitive information that could jeopardize the security of our elections, and we’re prepared to make this case in court.”

House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Twp., argued Thursday the defiance illustrates a “blatant disregard for the law” that will come with consequences from the legislature.

“We’ll get the materials,” Hall said, “but we’re going to hold her office accountable, and there probably are going to be many more subpoenas coming if she keeps doing this.”

DeBoyer, a former county clerk, noted the oversight and elections integrity committee are tasked with ensuring Michigan elections follow the law, and highlighted the futility of Benson’s obstruction.

“I’m not interested in jeopardizing the security of our elections. I’m interested in making sure that our elections are being run according to law. That’s it,” DeBoyer said.

“When we ask for the information to be able to do that, we’re told we can’t have it,” he said. “We’re told we’re a security threat. Rachelle spent seven years, eight years as a clerk. I spent 12 years as a clerk.

“There’s 5,000 people roughly in the state of Michigan that have access to that information that they’re telling us – the chair of oversight and the chair of elections – that we are a security threat,” DeBoyer said. “That’s a very convenient excuse. That is stonewalling.”