A mysterious group appears to be sending absentee ballot applications across Michigan, some of which claim authorization from Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
“All Michigan voters can securely vote from home by using the enclosed application to request a vote-by-mail ballot,” reads a mailer that says it was “paid for” by a group called The Voter Project Michigan. “Return the enclosed vote-by-mail ballot application today.”
The mailer, addressed to the mother of Michigan Republican State Rep. Brad Paquette, is marked with what appears to be Gov. Whitmer’s signature. Paquette told The Federalist the mailer arrived at his mother’s old address and was addressed to her maiden name — with which she registered to vote in 1979. Paquette said his mother’s registration with this name is now inactive.
“This letter clearly says ‘Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer,’” Paquette said. “How is she soliciting inactive voters from the 1970s?”
The mailer appears to come from Whitmer’s office — with the envelope reading “important election information from Governor Gretchen Whitmer.” The mailer also bears an official-looking heading that reads, “Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.”
“From voting rights to the cost of living to the freedom to make your own reproductive healthcare decisions, you and your neighbors will determine the direction for our community and our state,” the letter reads.
But its return address is a nondescript P.O. box in the small town of Dexter, and it features a disclaimer: “Paid for by The Voter Project Michigan … and authorized by Governor Gretchen Whitmer.”
Paquette said his Republican mother had not been living at the Marquette, Michigan address, so his Democrat grandmother received the mailer at the address.
The application, which Paquette shared with The Federalist, was pre-filled with the maiden name and address of his mother. The application includes a section where recipients can fill out multiple addresses at which to receive ballots.
“The U.S. Postal Service will not forward your ballot. We can mail it to you where you are,” the application reads.
The application disclaims that only U.S. citizens can vote, and directs readers to a “reverse side” for “additional instructions and warnings” — but Paquette said that side of the paper was blank.
“Who else is getting these letters?” Paquette asked.
A Statewide Issue
In the small town of Hillsdale — home to conservative Hillsdale College — City Councilman Robert Socha said The Voter Project Michigan sent a mailer to each of his three adult children. He shared these with The Federalist.
Socha said his children are currently registered at the family’s home address, which is where the absentee ballot applications arrived on Sept. 12. Socha did not receive a mailer.
Unlike the mailer addressed to Paquette’s mother, these were not pre-filled and did not feature an apparent endorsement from Whitmer. But the materials appeared official, directing recipients to the Michigan Department of State’s online absentee registration form and referencing the agency’s privacy policy. Like the Whitmer mailers, they also claimed “all Michigan voters can securely vote from home by using the enclosed application to request a vote-by-mail ballot” and featured the same Dexter P.O. box as a return address.
The application, like the Whitmer mailers, included a section where recipients could designate addresses at which to receive ballots. It also included a section that could be filled out by someone “assisting a voter.”
The Federalist reached out to Whitmer’s office, asking if it authorized the mailings featuring the governor’s name. The Federalist also asked for details regarding The Voter Project Michigan, but did not hear back in time for publication.
Angela Benander, director of communications for Democrat Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, responded to similar questions, telling The Federalist that third-party voter registration and absentee applications are common.
“In election years, many third-party groups send voter registration forms or absentee ballot applications directly to voters and request they return them to their local clerk’s office,” Benander said. “Questions about the recipients and contents of these specific mailers should be directed to the organization that sent them.”
The Voter Project Michigan, however, does not appear as a licensed business in Michigan or as a tax-exempt organization.
Benander said county clerks are “required by law to verify that the signatures on [third-party] forms match the signature on file with the voter’s record before accepting them.”
However, Benson has a history of failing to clean the state’s voter rolls. She recently dodged questions from Congress about whether or not dead people are registered to vote in the state.
The Public Interest Legal Foundation sued Benson in 2021 after it allegedly found 26,000 dead people registered to vote in the state. A district judge dismissed the case, as The Federalist has previously reported. PILF appealed to the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals and asked the circuit court to “reverse and remand the district court’s” decision.
The Republican National Committee sued Benson in March, claiming there were more registered voters than eligible citizens in 53 counties statewide, as The Federalist previously reported. The RNC also claimed in May that Benson failed to clean 92,000 inactive registrants from the voter rolls.
Seeking Answers
Hans von Spakovsky, manager of the Election Law Reform Initiative at The Heritage Foundation, told The Federalist he thinks the mailers bearing Whitmer’s name should be investigated.
“Are they doing this on behalf of the governor or are they falsely claiming to represent the governor? In either case, they should be investigated for misleading voters into thinking this is official mail from the governor of the state,” von Spakovsky told The Federalist. “These types of error-filled mailings can confuse voters, facilitate fraud in the absentee balloting process, and ultimately disenfranchise legitimate voters.”
If the group is working on behalf of Whitmer, von Spakovsky suggested she may be “abusing her position as a government official for partisan political purposes.” He said an investigation “should include” finding the source of this group’s mailing list, which he called “seriously out-of-date and inaccurate.”
Paquette said he and other state legislators are looking into the issue. On Monday, he said, they requested to meet with the Michigan Auditor General, which reviews government operations for “accountability for public funds.” He said he would ask how the group obtained its voter information.
Paquette said many claim the 2020 election was the “most secure.”
“But more and more people are getting really concerned about what’s happening right now, especially looking into 2024, with these types of mailers out there,” he said.
For more election news and updates, visit electionbriefing.com.
