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MI Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson Dodges Question of Whether Illegal Immigrants Are on Voter Roll

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson refused to answer whether illegal immigrants have been removed from the state’s voter rolls in a new video. 

The Democrat who is running for governor next year repeatedly has said that elections are secure and that illegal immigrants don’t vote in elections. But she wouldn't give a definite answer when asked during the 2026 Michigan State of the State address.

The Department of Justice has charged multiple non-citizens with voter fraud in the past two years. This year, it charged Jose Gargenis Vasquez-Rosa, a citizen of the Dominican Republic, with illegally voting in the 2020 election and with lying on an application for a United States passport. 

A year before that, Haoxiang Gao, a Chinese National, was charged with voting illegally in the 2024 presidential election.



The question follows as Republicans push the SAVE Act, which the U.S. House passed on Feb. 11. It aims to require voters to provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections. 

Benson has opposed the SAVE Act and called it a "trick." She claims that it would stop married women and minorities from voting. It's a common Democrat talking point that U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and California Gov. Gavin Newsom have invoked