Michigan lawmaker readies ballot campaign to require citizenship proof, photo ID to vote

Beth LeBlanc and Craig Mauger, The Detroit News on Feb 22, 2025

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DETROIT — State Rep. Bryan Posthumus plans to gather support for a ballot committee at this weekend's Michigan Republican Party convention in Detroit for a constitutional amendment requiring proof of citizenship to register and photo ID to vote.

Posthumus, a Republican, introduced a joint resolution last month in the Michigan House that would require voters to show proof of U.S. citizenship to register and provide photo identification to cast a ballot. But it's unclear whether the measure will get the two-thirds majority support needed in the Republican-led House and Democratic-led Senate to place the issue on the November 2026 ballot.

So Posthumus is using a ballot committee, Committee to Protect Voters' Rights, to develop ballot language and secure signatures from Michigan residents to qualify for the November 2026 ballot. The third-term lawmaker launched the campaign at a gathering with Republicans Friday and is expected to lead a convention floor vote Saturday on a resolution in support of the effort.

"This is a universally supported proposal that, I think, we’ll gain a lot of momentum and support for," Posthumus said.

Under the proposed amendment contained in the House joint resolution introduced Jan. 29, an individual seeking to register to vote must provide proof of citizenship or the secretary of state must verify citizenship. The amendment allows an individual to vote a provisional ballot that is not counted until U.S. citizenship is verified. The verification must occur within six days of Election Day.

The amendment also requires the secretary of state to use an "ongoing systemic process" to verify voters already appearing in the state's qualified voter file are actually U.S. citizens.

Only U.S. citizens are eligible to register to vote or cast a ballot under current law. Federal law requires voter registration applications to include language notifying registrants that they are required to be citizens, and the application process is required to contain an attestation that the applicant meets citizenship requirements.

But on Oct. 30, the Michigan Secretary of State's office and the Washtenaw County Prosecutor's Office announced a 19-year-old University of Michigan student from China, who was not a U.S. citizen had cast a ballot. The news made national headlines, as Republicans across the country had been voicing concerns about the potential ability of noncitizens to vote.

The University of Michigan student, Haoxiang Gao, was charged with being an unauthorized elector who attempted to vote and with perjury on the allegations that he'd falsely represented himself as a U.S. citizen on an affidavit while registering to vote. The student used his UM student identification, other documentation showing he resided in Ann Arbor and signed an affidavit attesting he was a U.S. citizen to complete his same-day registration and cast a ballot that was then tabulated, according to the Secretary of State's office.

That incident spurred Posthumus to push the House resolution forward. He said he may get some Democratic votes in the House, but he's uncertain he'll get enough to muster a two-thirds majority. He said he is even more doubtful the Democratic-led Senate will even put it up for a vote.

"This is a problem of the Democrats' creation, albeit, I believe it was genuinely unintentional," said Posthumus, referring to a 2022 ballot initiative and subsequent enabling legislation. "So I do expect some Democrat support.”

The proposed amendment would undo a part of a 2022 constitutional amendment, approved with 60% voter support in Michigan, that said in part that Michigan voters could use a photo ID or a signed affidavit to verify their identity.

Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has expressed opposition to the constitutional amendment, warning similar plans in other states had not passed constitutional muster or had created "a separate and unequal system of voting access for citizens" that blocked eligible voters from the ballot box.

"The politicians pushing this plan are taking something we all believe and know is true — that only U.S. citizens should vote in our elections — and using that as cover to gut Michiganders’ voting rights in our state constitution," Benson said last month.

Posthumus remained confident his proposal would be upheld by the courts if adopted by voters.

In order to qualify for the November 2026 ballot, Posthumus would need to collect roughly 440,000 signatures from across the state in support of the constitutional amendment.

The lawmaker said he believes he'll need to raise about $8 million to support the ballot campaign, and said he's had "conversations" with supporters throughout the country and in Michigan about contributing to the effort.

"This is a common sense issue that we are putting forward," Posthumus said.

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