Michigan House passes voter ID Bill 4765

The legislation will now face a Democratic-controlled Senate next, through which it is
unlikely to pass.

Michigan House passes controversial voter ID bill (HB4765) along party lines. By:
Katherine Dailey – April 15, 2026 (Michigan Advance News)
Critics of the bill have raised concerns over voter disenfranchisement

The Republican-controlled Michigan House passed legislation on Tuesday to establish
stricter voter identification rules through the chamber in a party-line vote, with all
Republicans present voting for the legislation and all Democrats present voting against.
The bill, House Bill 4765, sponsored by Rep. Jason Woolford (R-Howell), parallels the
federal SAVE Act, requiring proof of United States citizenship when registering to vote
and identification when voting. That sentiment is part of a larger Republican narrative
about limiting elections only to eligible U.S. citizens — though this is already the law.

“Election integrity should not be controversial,” Woolford (R-Howell) in a statement
following the bill’s passage. “As lawmakers, we owe it to the people of Michigan to
guarantee that only U.S. citizens are voting. For too long, our elections have been
vulnerable to interference. Today, House Republicans took action to create basic
protections that will ensure that our elections are being held in a secure manner.”

Despite concerns from House Democrats, who noted that the ID requirements were
vague in terms of which exact forms of identification would qualify, the bill passed
through the state’s House Election Integrity Committee in March.
Those same concerns were also raised in a statement criticizing the passage of the bill
on Tuesday from Michigan League for Public Policy President and CEO Monique Stanton.

“On the surface, this bill may look like it’s about voter identification and preventing so-
called voter fraud, but it’s really about trying to make it more difficult for eligible citizens

to exercise their right to vote in state elections,” she said. “If this bill were to become
law, voters who used to be able to use their standard driver’s license or state ID to vote
will be required to obtain an enhanced driver’s license or present other accompanying
documents, like their birth certificate or passport, in order to complete their voter
registration process.”

While election fraud has occurred in Michigan —for example, a Chinese student who
voted illegally in the 2024 election and admitted to it, leading to criminal charges in
Washtenaw County —those cases are few and far between, as Stanton explained.

“The Michigan Department of State conducted an extensive review of voter
identification last year and came back with 15 flagged cases of potential noncitizen
voters out of a total of 5.7 million ballots cast,” she said. “This shows that the systems
the state has in place to prevent voter fraud are already working.”

Stanton added that the bill could levy a burden for voters who do not already have
qualifying identification —new IDs cost money, and for residents who have changed
their name, such as married women, they may not have the necessary documents to get
those types of identification. For those reasons, as well as a potential burden on local
election administrators and clerks, Stanton called the bill “nothing short of a dire threat
to democratic participation.”

Woolford’s legislation also mimics a citizen-only ballot measure that turned in
signatures last month to make the November 2026 ballot. That measure, if passed by
voters, would add a constitutional requirement to present photo ID before casting a
vote.

“Michiganders deserve to have their voices respected,” Woolford said. “Unfortunately,
without requiring identification, we have been threatening the sanctity of our voting
process. The people of Michigan deserve better, and today we delivered. We need to do
everything in our power to ensure that our elections are free from foreign interference.
An identification requirement should be the bare minimum.”
Just 2 Michigan entities support HB4765, while 25 MI entities oppose it. (See HB 4765
Legal Analysis)
The legislation will now face a Democratic-controlled Senate next, through which it is
unlikely to pass.