Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson

LANSING, Mich. – Today, the United States Supreme Court vindicated the Michigan Department of State’s (MDOS) work to maintain the voter rolls on behalf of Michigan voters, declining to hear a case challenging the state’s process for cancelling voter registrations of people who have died. Two lower federal courts had previously dismissed the lawsuit filed by the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) and their decision will stand.

“Michigan is one of the most active states in the nation when it comes to keeping our voter file up to date and cancelling the registrations of people who have died,” Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said. “The claims in this lawsuit were not supported by evidence; they were partisan attacks aimed at undermining people’s faith in our secure elections. I’m glad to see the Supreme Court acknowledge that the facts and the law still matter and stand with the lower courts that have praised Michigan’s comprehensive work to maintain accurate voter rolls.”

In May 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld the federal district court’s dismissal of the PILF suit and described how Michigan goes above and beyond the legal standard for maintaining the state’s voter file: “A state that actively makes efforts to remove dead registrants based on state and federal death records is engaging in an inherently rational, sensible attempt at maintaining accurate voter registration lists. Michigan not only undertakes the kind of effort described … but it also adopts additional standards as well.”  

Since 2019, state and local election officials have removed more than 1.4 million registrations from the state’s Qualified Voter File (QVF) in compliance with the National Voter Registration Act. Michigan is one of the most active states in the country in removing registrations of voters who have died – ranking sixth in the nation in 2024 and fifth in both 2022 and 2020, according to data from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Clerks receive information daily from the Social Security Death Index and can use other information like obituaries or death notifications from the voter’s family to remove them from the voter file. Michigan also participates in the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), a nonpartisan national tool that compares voter files across several states.

More information about Michigan’s multi-layered voter list maintenance process is available online. To update or check the status of your Michigan voter registration, visit Michigan.gov/Vote.