On the surface, this bill may look like it’s about voter identification and preventing so called fraud, but it’s really about making voting harder for eligible citizens in the state of Michigan. If this bill becomes law, voters who have used their standard driver’s license or state ID to register and/or to vote, especially married women who have changed their name, would be required to present an enhanced driver’s license or present other documents like a birth certificate or passport, documents that many do not have or will need to purchase, in order to register and/or vote.

In addition, this bill would further burden the Secretary of State, clerk’s offices within counties, townships, and cities, the Michigan Bureau of Elections and the Department of State, by adding administrative costs managing the new citizenship verification processes, as reported in the Legislative Analysis by the House Fiscal Agency. The report also sites the potential need for additional staff and that the state may need to conduct outreach and education initiatives for the voting public.

While election fraud has occurred in Michigan, for example, a Chinese student who voted illegally in the 2024 election and admitted to it, leading to criminal charges in Washtenaw County, these cases are few and far between. The Michigan Department of State conducted an extensive review of voter ID last year and flagged just 15 potential non-citizen voters out of 5.7 million ballots cast. Nearly all were deemed clerical errors and corrected. Our state’s registration and fraud prevention systems are working well.

Non-citizen voting is extremely rare in all states, including Michigan. House Bill 4765 mirrors the American Save Act that is under debate in the U.S. Senate. As National Urban League president and CEO Marc H. Morial said, “Under the guise of combating so called voter fraud, a solution looking for a problem and one that does not exist, the SAVE Act will make it hard for millions of American citizens to vote.” This statement is true with Michigan’s HB 4765!

The bottom line is that this bill is not good for democracy in Michigan and is intentionally designed to suppress your vote. Please contact your Michigan senator for the 38th district, Ed McBroom at 866-305-2038. State your name and county and say “No” to HB 4765!