Michigan Democrats introduced election security legislation this week that “do little to directly address the threat of noncitizens voting.”

The three bill package introduced Tuesday as the Michigan Election Security Act “won’t close the voter registration loopholes that may have allowed at least 16 noncitizen to cast a ballot that counted last year,” nor do they include measures to address that issue suggested by Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Votebeat Michigan reports.

“This first phase, in many ways, were the low-hanging fruit — things that have been discussed in the past, that didn’t make it through lame duck last session, that for one reason or another didn’t gain legs in previous terms but are worth revisiting,” state Rep. Stephen Wooden, D-Grand Rapids, told the news site.

Wooden sponsored House Bill 4461 to require Benson to remove voter registrations from the state’s qualified voter file if they present documents during transactions with the secretary of state that indicate they’re not a citizen, once the department informs the person and gives them 60 days to produce proof of citizenship.

Another bill from Rep. Matt Koleszar, D-Plymouth, House Bill 4462, would task the secretary of state with removing registrations of voters who haven’t cast a ballot in two decades, while House Bill 4463, from Rep. Mai Xiong, D-Warren, would require the review of voter registration forms on even-numbered years to ensure they clearly state applicants must be U.S. citizens.

Benson applauded the MESA in a statement, claiming the legislation includes “several important provisions that will strengthen our ability to keep our voter rolls up to date, help election officials more effectively identify and remove ineligible voter registrations, and provide additional tools to make sure eligible voters can easily register and cast their ballot.”

Benson, who is running her own election for governor in 2026, testified before Congress in September that “there is no evidence that noncitizens are voting,” only to be contradicted a month later when Haoxiang Gao, a 20-year-old University of Michigan student from China, allegedly cast an illegal ballot in Washtenaw County using his student ID. The incident exposed how noncitizens could exploit the state’s same day registration process to cast ballots that are counted because there is no means to retrieve them.

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In April, Benson admitted 15 others likely cast illegal votes during the 2024 General Election, as well, bringing the total to 16, though state Rep. Jay DeBoyer, R-Clay Twp., recently told reporters he’s in possession of “preliminary information … that we’re probably pushing 80 (illegal votes in 2024) now.”

“Not all are necessarily (illegal immigrants),” he said, “but 80 fraudulent votes that were cast.”

“That demonstrates at a systematic problem at the election level that things are not being done appropriately,” DeBoyer said.

The MESA is the first in what’s expected to be a serious of election proposals from Michigan Democrats called the Security, Accountability, and Nonintervention in Elections plan, which they refer to as a SANE plan.

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The intent is to counter House Joint Resolution B introduced by state Rep. Bryan Posthumus, R-Rockford, Benson has described as a “cover to gut Michiganders’ voting rights in our state constitution.”

Posthumus’ constitutional amendment would require anyone registering to vote after Dec. 18, 2026 to provide proof of citizenship, and mandate voters present a photo ID when voting in person, measures the lawmaker said are a “no-brainer” and “common sense.”

A recent Rasmussen poll suggests the vast majority of Americans agree, as “77% of U.S. likely voters believe that requiring photo ID to vote is a reasonable measure to protect the integrity of elections – up 74% from 2021. Just 17% disagree.”

While HJR B failed to gain a requisite two-thirds majority vote to clear the House last week, a Committee to Protect Voters’ Rights is collecting signatures to put the same measure on the ballot in 2026.

Posthumus told Votebeat Michigan that he’s encouraged Democrats are focused on election integrity, but doesn’t believe the MESA does enough to prevent fraud, though he signaled a willingness to work across the aisle to improve the legislation.

“There are a million things that we can do to further secure our elections in a positive manner that doesn’t make it more difficult to vote,” Posthumus told the news site. “I’m happy to have those conversations with whoever wants to have them, but that doesn’t change the fact that we need to require only U.S. citizens vote in our election with photo ID when casting a ballot.”