Metro Detroit clerk: Noncitizens found on jury rolls, sparking election integrity questions

Macomb County clerk claims non-citizens ended up on jury rolls

Macomb County Clerk Anthony Forlini claims that his office uncovered that non-citizens were showing up on jury rolls in his country, something Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson says her office found little evidence to support this claim.

FOX 2 - Non-citizens on jury pools? A county clerk says yes – but the state responded with not so fast.

Macomb County Clerk Anthony Forlini says a review of jury records uncovered non-citizens, raising concerns about election integrity. 

Josh Landon sat down one-on-one with Forlini to press him on the data, the timing and the politics. For the full 15-minute interview, watch the entire one-on-one at the bottom of the story.

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Forlini says a simple software change in Macomb County led his office to uncover non-citizens in the jury pool.

The Secretary of State's Office is disputing those claims, saying a review found little evidence to support them.

FOX 2: "You’ve said your findings raise serious concerns about election integrity in Michigan. In your own words, what did you find and why did you feel it was important to go public when you did?"

Forlini: "We had 239 non-citizens on the jury rolls. The only reason we found this out, is because we changed the software in the jury room. Through a managerial review of how things are run, we noticed 40 percent of the people were coming to jury duty. We were trying to figure out why. All of these things came about - age, health, non-citizens."

FOX 2: "Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson says the state reviewed the 14 or 15 cases you flagged and found most were citizens already removed, or incorrectly identified. Where specifically do you believe the state’s review got it wrong?"

Forlini: "Hang on, let’s look at it. Four are apparent non-citizens. Four were previously removed from the voting polls. So that means they were on the voting rolls to begin with. They were removed, but how did they get back into our jury pool?"

FOX 2: "Do you believe your conclusions were fully vetted before going public or would you handle that process different?"

Forlini: "Let’s just understand this, we reached out to the Secretary of State's Office before going public. The person we spoke with, spoke with different people, and came back and said 'We’re not touching it. Go to a local clerk.' How is a local clerk going to do any better? Actually, this situation would have been buried because a local clerk would have taken these people off, rightfully or wrongfully."

FOX 2: "Also, let’s call out the elephant in the room. You’re now a candidate for Secretary of State - the very office disputing these claims. How do you reassure voters this issue isn’t just political ambition?"

Forlini: "You know it would have been a lot easier with this whole situation had I not been running for Secretary of State. This was my job to do what I’m doing. This is nothing different than what I’ve done my last five years."

FOX 2: "On that note, if you were Secretary of State today, what specific changes would you implement to verify citizenship - and how would you do that without creating new barriers for eligible voters?"

Forlini: "I think there is the SAVE Act that’s going on at the national level and I think that’s important. What we’ve done over the past few years is make it so easy, that we kind of left holes open. Holes in the system. We can’t have these holes anymore."

Forlini, a Republican, said that he would also support an independent, bi-partisan audit on the matter - even if it contradicts his recent claims.

Watch the video below for the full interview.

One-on-one with Macomb County clerk amid election integrity concerns

Macomb County Clerk Anthony Forlini sits down with FOX 2's Josh Landon to discuss his election integrity concerns after he says non-citizens were found in his county's jury pools. His claims have been disputed by Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.