Macomb County Clerk Says Noncitizens Are Appearing in Jury Pool at ‘Alarming Rate’

Macomb County Clerk Anthony Forlini said on Jan. 12 that he found evidence showing nearly 240 individuals lacking U.S. citizenship in recent jury pools, with a small number appearing on state voter records and at least one appearing to have voted several times.

Forlini said the findings from an internal audit covering a four-month period highlight vulnerabilities in how driver’s licenses connect to both jury service and voter enrollment. The jury pools are randomly selected from the Michigan secretary of state’s driver records.

The review, which cross-referenced jury questionnaires with Michigan’s Qualified Voter File (QVF), identified 239 noncitizens summoned for potential jury duty in the 16th Judicial Circuit Court, Forlini said. Of those, 14 had been listed as registered voters at various points, and records indicated four had participated in elections, including one who voted on several occasions, according to the county clerk.

“What we have found is very disturbing, 239 non-citizens were found in the jury pool over a four-month period. In a cross check of our voter rolls it appears that 14 of these prospective jurors were registered to vote at some point in time,” Forlini said.

“Our QVF shows instances where some of these non-citizens potentially having a voting history. One in particular appears to have voted several times, all of which could result in felony charges.”

Forlini attributed the issue to gaps in the state’s system, where applicants for driver’s licenses are automatically registered to vote unless they opt out. A checkbox on voter registration forms is used to confirm citizenship.

“Non-citizens are coming through at an alarming rate. Our jury service summons are based on random draws from the driver’s license bank,” Forlini said. “Frequently non-citizens slip through because citizenship was not flagged in the Secretary of State database. We must find a way for the Driver’s License database to confirm citizenship.”

Forlini urged immediate reforms, suggesting technological integrations to flag discrepancies in real time.

“One possibility is to take advantage of new breakthroughs in linking several databases, where one database is able [to] flag another database for actual citizenship verification,” he said.

The Epoch Times reached out to the office of Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson for comment, but did not receive a response by publication time.

Michigan does not mandate proof of citizenship for voter registration beyond a sworn statement. Automatic registration, enacted in 2018, has boosted enrollment but drawn criticism from those concerned about election integrity.

A state review released last April examined 2024 election data and found only 15 credible instances of noncitizen voting statewide—representing 0.00028 percent of more than 5.7 million ballots, according to the Michigan Department of State. That probe, which compared driving records to voter files, led to 13 referrals for prosecution.

The clerk’s office has forwarded details to state authorities for further investigation. Potential violations could result in charges, as voting while ineligible is a felony.