Mount Clemens, Mich — Serious questions are being raised about the integrity of jury trials and elections in Macomb County after the county clerk revealed that non-citizens were repeatedly found in the jury pool and, in some cases, on the voter rolls.
Anthony G. Forlini, the Macomb County Clerk/Register of Deeds, said his office uncovered the issue while reviewing prospective jurors for the 16th Judicial Circuit Court. Jury pools in Michigan are generated using the Secretary of State’s driver’s license database, which does not consistently flag citizenship status.
According to Forlini, non-citizens have been appearing in jury summonses “at an alarming rate” because citizenship is not reliably identified in the Secretary of State system.
“Our jury service summons are based on random draws from the driver’s license bank. Frequently non-citizens slip through because citizenship was not flagged,” Forlini said.
Cross-Check Reveals Troubling Findings
Forlini said his office conducted what he believes is the first direct cross-check between the jury pool and Michigan’s Qualified Voter File (QVF), leveraging his unique access to both systems.
The results were significant.
Over a four-month period, 239 non-citizens were identified in the jury pool. When those names were compared against voter records, 14 individuals appeared to have been registered to vote at some point. In several cases, the QVF suggested possible voting histories.
“One in particular appears to have voted several times, all of which could result in felony charges,” Forlini said.
How the System Allows It
Under current Michigan procedure, individuals who apply for a driver’s license are automatically registered to vote unless they opt out. The voter registration form includes a checkbox asking whether the applicant is a United States citizen. If “yes” is selected, the registration is processed without independent verification.
Michigan does not currently use a federal citizenship database or any systematic federal verification process at the time of voter registration.
Forlini warned that language barriers and misunderstanding of the form may be contributing factors, but said the outcome is still unacceptable.
“Many times there may be a language barrier, and applicants do not understand what they are signing,” he said. “If this is not addressed, we risk compromising our jury trials and our elections.”
Calls for Database Reform
The clerk said reforms are urgently needed, including improved database integration that would allow one system to flag another for verified citizenship status.
“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,” Forlini said.
The Question Now Facing Macomb County
The revelations raise a critical and unresolved issue:
What happens now to court cases that were adjudicated by juries that may have included non-citizens?
Legal experts say the presence of an ineligible juror could open the door to appeals, post-conviction challenges, and claims of compromised verdicts, depending on the facts of each case. At the same time, any confirmed unlawful voting activity could trigger criminal investigations and potential felony charges.
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