Michigan Secretary of State: Address glitch will not affect voters

Aleanna Siacon | Detroit Free Press

Two weeks before the 2018 midterm elections, the Lansing-based liberal group Progress Michigan said in a news release on Friday they'd been "tipped off" to a Michigan Secretary of State office error that led to mismatched voter addresses and driver's license addresses.

The group said these inconsistencies could keep people from voting on Election Day, and it announced that it has submitted a Freedom of Information Act request "demanding answers from Secretary of State Ruth Johnson."

"No matter what has occurred, the Secretary of State must ensure that the impacted voters are allowed to vote during the upcoming election. Every vote must be counted and they must come clean about who has been affected by the error,” the release said.

"The stakes are too high for any disenfranchisement to occur.”

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In a response to a Free Press query, Secretary of State spokesman Fred Woodhams called the computer glitch "relatively minor" and clarified that no Michigan voters are or will be negatively affected.

"It's unfortunate that Progress Michigan is needlessly alarming voters," he said.

Woodhams said that their addresses and other information have been fully updated in the state voter file, and "all data is correct and up to date."

"For some people who updated their address at a local clerk's office, their address was updated in the voter file but not in the file for driver's licenses. We are working to correct this error and expect it to be done in the next week or, at most, two," he said.

Woodhams said Michigan residents whose addresses were not correctly updated on their driver's licence or ID card will be receiving a sticker with the correct address soon.

Contact reporter Aleanna Siacon at ASiacon@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter: @AleannaSiacon.