Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson addresses voter fraud claims from Macomb County Clerk

Michigan Secretary of State addresses voter fraud claims

FOX 2 reached out to Clerk Forlini for comment but has not heard back as of Jan. 29. Forlini originally came up with the list based on people who turned down jury duty saying they were non-citizens. 

LANSING, Mich. (FOX 2) - Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is under fire after Macomb County Clerk Anthony Forlini brought forth allegations that he found proof that over a dozen non-citizens voted in some Presidential Elections.

Big picture view:

Benson brought the list to the Bureau of Elections, and they investigated and released their findings on Thursday. Benson says of the 15 people accused, only three ever voted and of those few, one is a US citizen, another is still under investigation and the last person was found to be a non-citizen who voted in 2018, before Benson's tenure, and they removed that person from the voter rolls in 2022.

Benson fired back at Clerk Forlini saying the allegations were not accurate.

"What we have found through that work has only reinforced the reality that noncitizen voting is extremely rare. In a review conducted of the 2024 presidential election in Michigan, we found of the over 5.7 million votes cast, less than 1%, which was .00028% appeared to be from ineligible voters," Benson said. "The reason I’m sounding this alarm today is that we have proof that approaching this situation with a sledgehammer and not a scalpel can lead to the disenfranchisement of eligible voters. Reckless accusations, without careful investigation, put American citizens under the threat of arrest and criminal inquiry even though they have done nothing wrong."

The other side:

FOX 2 reached out to Clerk Forlini for comment but has not heard back as of Jan. 29.

Forlini originally came up with the list based on people who turned down jury duty saying they were non-citizens. 

During Benson's press conference, they did point out it's a lot easier for people to lie to get out of jury duty rather than to lie in an election where it is a crime to do so.