The Republican National Committee (RNC) has filed a federal lawsuit against Michigan secretary of state Jocelyn Benson, alleging that the state’s voter rolls are inflated and inaccurate based on a flawed analysis of population data.
The lawsuit claims that in 76 of Michigan’s 83 counties, the number of registered voters exceeds the number of eligible citizens to vote, or have “suspiciously high” rates of active voter registration. This claim is similar to the one circulating since Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election, suggesting that high voter registration is indicative of fraud.
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However, federal law requires states to conduct voter list maintenance regularly and wait multiple election cycles before removing inactive voters from the rolls to prevent disenfranchisement. Therefore, voter rolls naturally contain some outdated voter registration information.
The lawsuit alleges that many Michigan counties have suspiciously high numbers of registered voters, some exceeding the voting population of citizenship age. This claim is based on a comparison of 2022 population data from the census bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) and the most up-to-date count of registered active voters available from the Michigan Bureau of Elections.
The suit does not specify the date from which it is measuring voter registration, but the bureau appears to update voter registration statistics daily.
Experts have cautioned that the methodology used in the lawsuit paints a misleading picture of the voter rolls. Comparing recent voter registration information to outdated ACS population numbers can exaggerate the impression of voter roll bloat.
Furthermore, the ACS aims to capture general population numbers, but individuals such as college students or military personnel can be registered to vote in a location where they do not reside.
“Registration is about domicile, Census estimates of [citizen voting age population] CVAP are about where you lay your head. You can still be legally registered in a jurisdiction even if you’re not physically present there,” wrote Justin Levitt, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, in a 2020 blog post.
The…
2024-03-14 15:24:49
Original from www.theguardian.com