Social media posts mislead about Michigan voter rolls and election fraud

About two weeks from Election Day, some social media users claimed something is amiss in the battleground state of Michigan.

"Michigan FINALLY cleaned its voter rolls of 330,000 dead people and non-citizens," said an Oct. 19 X post. "Despite this herculean effort the state STILL has 100,000 more registered voters than eligible citizens. This creates a huge risk of election (fraud)."

The post, which had 30 million views as of Oct. 22, appeared to echo an Oct. 18 Facebook post from conservative news outlet The Daily Wire that said, "Michigan’s voter rolls list 8.4M voters. There are fewer than 8M voting-age residents in the state."

Other social media posts repeated the claim.

Billionaire Elon Musk also amplified it, posting on X, which he owns, "Michigan has more registered voters than eligible citizens!? Is that true @CommunityNotes?" Musk wrote.

Musk’s post has since been marked with a community note that adds context about the number of registered voters in Michigan.

The Facebook and Instagram posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson called out Musk for "spreading dangerous disinformation."

Benson said in her Oct. 19 X post that Michigan has 7.2 million active registered voters, and the state had a voting age population of 7.9 million as of 2023. U.S. Census Bureau data backs her population figure.

"Musk is pushing a misleading number that includes 1.2 million inactive records slated for removal in accordance with the law," Benson wrote.

PolitiFact contacted the Michigan secretary of state’s office but did not receive a reply before publication.

Michigan’s Voter Information Center website said there were 8,441,536 registered voters in the state, as of Oct. 21. But this number doesn’t reflect how many people vote in Michigan because it includes inactive voters.

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For example, when election mail sent to a voter is returned as undeliverable, Michigan election officials note that the voter might have moved and send a notice of voter registration cancellation to that voter’s address. After this notice is sent, the voter is considered inactive and can still vote until their registration is canceled, the Michigan Department of State website says.

By state and federal law, officials must cancel the inactive voter’s registration if they receive no response to the notice and the voter does not participate in the following two federal election cycles, a period that could last up to four years. People whose voter registrations are canceled may reregister.

About 340,000 inactive voter registrations in Michigan are slated for cancellation in 2025, and about 258,000 inactive registrations will be canceled in 2027, according to the Voter Information Center website.

Besides these nearly 600,000 inactive voters slated for cancellation, Michigan’s voter rolls include other inactive registrations for voters who might have died or moved, the Michigan Department of State website says.

Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum also responded on X to a question about Michigan’s voter rolls. She provided additional reasons Michigan has more registered voters than eligible voters, including:

• When Michigan residents obtain, renew or update their driver’s license or state ID, their voter registrations are automatically added or updated, unless they opt out.

• Starting this year, 16- and 17-year-olds can preregister to vote in Michigan.

• The state’s voter rolls include military and overseas voters living abroad whose last U.S. address was in Michigan.

PolitiFact has fact-checked similar false claims before, and voting experts told us that outsized voter rolls do not signal fraud. Experts said it’s more likely that these lengthy voter rolls result from federal and state laws that prevent election officials from removing voters too quickly.

Social media posts said Michigan has "more registered voters than eligible citizens. This creates a huge risk of election fraud."

Michigan’s State Department said there are about 8.4 million registered voters in the state, which has a voting-age population of about 7.9 million. There are seemingly more registered voters than eligible voters because the voter rolls include inactive voter registrations.

But these inactive registrations don’t mean ineligible voters are participating in elections. Michigan election officials remove inactive voters from the rolls after a certain period in accordance with state and federal laws.

We rate this claim False.