Ann Arbor area legislators, election officials respond to election security concerns at town hall

State legislators, election administrators, and U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell held a town hall in Ann Arbor to address voter concerns ahead of the midterms, with Michigan Deputy Secretary of State Aghogho Edevbie insisting the state's elections are extremely secure while acknowledging no system is flawless. He cited 16 confirmed bad votes out of 5.7 million cast in 2024 as evidence, and pointed to Georgia and Arizona voter ID crackdowns that either let noncitizens through or disenfranchised tens of thousands of eligible voters.

Dingell defended her 'no' vote on the federal SAVE Act, warning it could disenfranchise women who changed their names through marriage, military voters, and elderly voters with mobility issues. Washtenaw County Clerk Larry Kestenbaum said the system has grown steadily more secure since 2004, while Republican congressional nominee Heather Smiley pressed skeptical questions and invoked the case of a Chinese student who voted illegally in 2024 and fled before trial.

Edevbie noted paper ballots are retained for 22 months and available via records request, even though USB voting-data drives are destroyed after seven days, and explained that voters inactive for six consecutive elections are flagged for further identity checks rather than simply purged.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.