East Lansing Pushes Back on DOJ Assertions About 2024 Election Administration
The assertions made by President Donald Trump’s administration in a recent letter to East Lansing saying that it is sending election monitors to the city’s August primary election after it failed to comply with federal election laws in the 2024 presidential election are inaccurate, the East Lansing City Clerk wrote in a responding letter Thursday.
The U.S. Department of Justice sent letters ahead of Michigan’s Aug. 4 primary election to East Lansing, Lansing and Detroit, all large Democratic voter strongholds, alerting them that election monitors would be sent to the municipalities.
In the letter to East Lansing, which hosts Michigan State University’s historically Democratic student voter block and lays at the heart of Michigan’s highly competitive 7th congressional district, the DOJ made several claims, one being that some voters were not offered provisional ballots in the 2024 election.
Provisional ballots allow individuals whose names aren’t found on the registered voters list on Election Day to submit a ballot that will only be counted once registration is confirmed. Provisional ballots are available but rarely used by voters, East Lansing City Clerk Emily Gordon said in her letter to the DOJ dated Thursday. In the letter she points to Michigan’s election laws that allow for same-day voter registration, which allow Michigan voters to submit ballots the same day they register, meaning a person can register to vote on Election Day.
Gordon said in her letter that the city “welcomes the opportunity” to explain why the assertions made in the June 26 letter from Timothy Mellett, deputy chief for the Voting Section of the DOJ, are “inaccurate” and asks for clarity on documents the DOJ is requesting.
In addition the claim concerning provisional ballots, the DOJ letter says the department has been informed that during the November 5, 2024 election the Qualified Voter File was not used as the official voter registration list at polling locations and non-compliance with federal election laws may have caused extended wait times and long lines at polling places.
The claim about the state’s Qualified Voter File is inaccurate, Gordon wrote in her response, adding that paper backups were made available to election locations as well.
In regards to claims of longer wait times and lines, Gordon points at Michigan’s same-day voter registration to explain why wait times may have been longer at certain points at the city’s Election Day Vote Centers, but “No long lines existed at standard precinct voting locations.”
While East Lansing has had issues with long lines during recent large elections, the challenges are structural and great strides were made in shortening lines during the 2024 general election.
In 2018, Michigan voters approved an amendment to the state constitution to allow same-day voter registration. Election Day registration is popular with MSU students because many students have never voted before or need to change their registration from a previous address.
Registration is not performed at regular precincts and is limited to the clerk’s office or an Election Day Vote Center. This means students who need to register or change their registration on Election Day are funneled to a couple of locations, which has brought long lines in past elections. Students were in line after midnight during the 2022 November election waiting to register and vote. However, the Election Day Vote Center was closed by 9:13 p.m. in the November 2024 election, Gordon’s letter notes.
The letter from the DOJ includes requests for several items to be sent by July 24 including lists of polling places and precincts, maps of precinct boundaries, a copy of the voter registration list, training materials used for election workers and an “explanation of what steps will be taken to provide adequate resources and trained staff for every precinct for the 2026 primary election.”
“As part of our assessment of your administration of the federal primary election, we plan to have election monitors at your 2026 primary election. We will contact you a week prior to the election monitoring to discuss the particulars of the monitoring effort,” the DOJ letter reads.
Poll watchers and challengers are nothing new to Michigan or East Lansing, Gordon wrote in her response Thursday, adding that “… Elections in East Lansing are fair, secure, and transparent and are administered in accordance with all state and federal laws.”
Gordon said East Lansing is ready to respond to the DOJ’s requests for documents, but points out that much of what was requested are publicly available records online.
The DOJ’s letter also doesn’t outline the legal authority the department has to enact election monitoring or to set the July 24 deadline for the records request as the city dedicates significant time and resources to preparing for the election, Gordon writes in her letter, and the DOJ did not outline the consequences in the event the city can’t meet that deadline.