The claim: 105% of Michigan’s population is registered to vote
A June 22 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) makes a bold claim about voter registration in a battleground state.
“105% Of the population of Michigan is registered to vote,” text in the post reads.
Other versions of the claim were also shared on Facebook.
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Our rating: False
The 105% represents the ratio of people on Michigan's voter rolls compared to the number of residents who are 18 and older, not the state's total population. It is over 100% because of a state law that requires clerks to keep inactive voters on the rolls for multiple years, an expert said.
Claim references people old enough to vote, not state's total population
Michigan is considered one of the swing states that will decide whether President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump wins the White House in the upcoming 2024 presidential election. With polls indicating a tight race, every vote counts – and that means increased scrutiny from people looking for any evidence of impropriety.
But the post's claim that 105% of the state's population is registered to vote is false. The state’s estimated population of more than 10 million people is greater than its 8.3 million registered voters, according to state data.
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The 105% statistic appears to be based on a separate figure – the number of Michigan residents old enough to vote, not the total population. About 7.9 million of the state's population is 18 or older, according to data from the state and the U.S. Elections Project, a website that tracks voting data trends. That would mean that the 8.3 million registered voters in the state is about 105% of that 7.9 million.
Registered voters outnumber people of voting age in Michigan because of a state law that requires clerks to keep inactive voters – defined as those who haven’t voted for six years or changed their addresses to out-of-state ones – on the rolls for up to two federal election cycles after being identified as inactive, said Corwin Smidt, an associate professor of political science at Michigan State University. More than 610,000 inactive voters are scheduled for removal by 2027, according to the state's voter information center.
“That discrepancy is required by state law,” Smidt said.
The claim also appears in the introductory paragraph of a Q-and-A posted to conservative commentator Glenn Beck’s website with Blaze TV host Sara Gonzales. She also referenced the statistic in connection to the federal lawsuit filed in March by the Republican National Committee against Michigan’s secretary of state and the director of the state’s elections bureau over voter roll maintenance.
The RNC claims that in 53 of the state’s 83 counties, there are more registered voters than adult citizens. It calls that number “impossibly high” and argues it violates the National Voter Registration Act's requirements to maintain “clean and accurate” voter rolls. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson called it a "PR campaign masquerading as a meritless lawsuit." A similar lawsuit was dismissed in March.
Many false claims circulating on social media center around voter registration and election integrity. USA TODAY has debunked false assertions that 2 million people registered to vote without photo ID in Texas, Pennsylvania and Arizona and that a federal agency determined fraud took place during the 2020 election.
USA TODAY reached out to several Facebook users who shared the claim and to Beck but did not immediately receive responses.
Our fact-check sources:
- Corwin Smidt, June 24, Email exchange with USA TODAY
- Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, accessed June 24, Total Population by Selected Age Groups By Local Health Departments, Michigan 2022
- Michigan Voter Information Center, accessed June 25, Voter registration statistics
- Michigan Department of State, accessed June 25, Voter registration cancellation procedures
- Michigan Legislature, accessed June 25, Chapter 168. Michigan Election Law
- The Republican National Committee, March 13, Case 1:24-cv-00262
- WZZM-TV, March 29, RNC sues Michigan SOS, Director of the Michigan Bureau of Elections over alleged violation of National Voter Registration Act
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