Hello, my beloved fellow Michiganians and Michiganders. It’s Hayley, here again with the latest election news around the state.

Perhaps not unexpectedly, our lawmakers at every level have started sharing their opinions on the SAVE America Act and proof of citizenship. 

In Detroit, for example, council members unanimously passed a resolution opposing proof of citizenship requirements in the state. Ypsilanti officials denounced it this week as well, and Washtenaw County Commissioners passed their own resolution last month.

The comments I’ve seen are largely along party lines. My inbox is full of statements from Democratic lawmakers saying they oppose the act, while Republicans support it — including a number of high-ranking state lawmakers who appeared in a White House video promoting it and encouraging Congress to pass it.

As my colleagues have written, the SAVE America Act would introduce a number of hurdles for voters and election officials alike. It’s an argument you may remember from our own conversations in Michigan: Republicans say that even one noncitizen voter — despite how extremely rare they are — is too many, while Democrats say that the proposal goes too far and would functionally disenfranchise legal voters.

That’s because we’ve been having our own form of this debate in Michigan for more than a year now. Republican lawmakers introduced House Joint Resolution B early last year to ask voters to require verification of voters’ citizenship. It failed to make it through the House, but an independent effort looking to do basically the same thing says it has enough signatures to be on the ballot this fall. 

Those signatures aren’t submitted yet — I’ve asked organizers, who haven’t shared a date on when they plan to file them for verification — but it’s possible that even if the SAVE America Act doesn’t move forward (which is unlikely, because of filibuster rules), Michigan is still going to have to weigh in on this. And that’s before a second, nearly identical petition, comes into play.

This is all, of course, despite there already being federal requirements that one must be a citizen to vote.

When talking about this, people tend to point to this October 2024 Gallup survey that found that 83% of people supported requiring proof of citizenship when registering to vote. I’m curious to see if that number will hold true in Michigan, though, if the issue does make the ballot. 

Groups like Voters Not Politicians and All Voting is Local and others that helped pass proposals 18-3 and 22-2 in past elections appear ready to speak out against a proof of citizenship requirement in Michigan. Would that be enough to stop it if it does make the ballot?

I’ll keep looking into this, of course. If you have thoughts on this or any other voting topic, I always love to hear them — I’m at [email protected]. I’d also like to encourage you to tell your friends and Romans and countrymen (anyone who would like it, really) to subscribe to the Votebeat Michigan newsletter themselves. They can do that right here, and it’s the best way to get up-to-date voting news in your inbox every two weeks.

Of course, there are also the bunnies, who meticulously fact check every email I send. Here is Puff, left, and Honey, both sleeping on the job.

They heard me say “hop to it” and they did not take it literally.