For years, concerns about non-citizens voting have been brushed aside because, we were assured, it simply didn’t happen. Then it became almost never happens. Now the goalposts have moved again: Okay, it happens – but don’t worry, we’re told, it doesn’t happen enough to change the outcome.

The problem with insisting something doesn’t happen is that eventually someone gets caught doing it. And in Michigan, the receipts became too difficult to ignore. In a plot twist few saw coming, Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel announced last week that five non-citizens have actually been charged with election crimes connected to Michigan’s November 2024 election. A sixth defendant, a U.S. citizen, is accused of illegally registering her non-citizen husband to vote.

Right on cue, Nessel stressed that non-citizen voting is “rare.” But rare and nonexistent are two very different words – especially when people are being charged with felonies over it, and as more cases are exposed, the “it doesn’t happen” lie becomes harder and harder to maintain.

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Michigan election officials referred 16 suspected cases from the 2024 election to Nessel’s office in 2025, followed by another 22 cases in 2026 involving suspected non-citizen voting or related conduct. Six cases have resulted in criminal charges, 10 were closed without charges and 22 remain under review.

Michigan State Rep. Rachelle Smit, R-Martin, seized on the announcement while pushing for the federal SAVE Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register and photo ID to vote.

“How many non-citizens will have to vote in our elections before Democrats recognize it as the crisis it is?” Smit asked, calling the charged cases “just the tip of the iceberg.”

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Whatever the ultimate scope, the cases undercut the idea that non-citizen voting is something that simply cannot happen. It did happen, according to the charges filed by Nessel’s office. And if it can happen once, it can happen again. The question now isn’t whether the problem exists, but whether election safeguards are strong enough to prevent it in the first place. Right now, under Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (who is running to be governor), the answer is no.