Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson is pushing for a citizenship verification box on the application for the November ballot. She says there could be an estimated 4,000 non-citizens registered to vote in Michigan.
A lawsuit has been brought to block the question from the ballot and some county clerks are refusing to put the citizenship question to voters.
“If you have reason to believe that you’re going to be tripped up as a non-citizen or fraudulent resident trying to vote, maybe you’ll turn around on your heel and leave the voting precinct,” said Bill Ballenger, Editor of Inside Michigan Politics.
Ballenger says on the one hand Democrats seek to encourage more voters, "do we encourage as many people to vote as possible at all times, even if we perhaps run the risk of allowing a few fraudulent or illegal voters to slip through the cracks and be able to vote...that's basically the Democratic side."
On the other hand,"The Republican side is, you know it's not just a right to vote it's a privilege and you should have all your papers in order...the lower the turn out for Republicans the better the results in almost ever election," he said.
