JCAR hears Michigan Department of State rules to clarify voter‑roll challenges, adds 20‑year backstop

The Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) heard testimony from the Michigan Department of State Bureau of Elections on a proposed rule set meant to clarify how clerks handle voter‑registration challenges and list maintenance, including a measure that would treat 20 years of no voter activity as "reliable information" to begin cancellation procedures.

Adam Fercasse, deputy director of elections for the Bureau, told the committee the rules aim to "harmonize" the text of Michigan law with the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and to codify existing bureau practice drawn from the Clerk Accreditation Manual. The package, he said, separates registration‑challenge procedures from list‑maintenance procedures and provides definitions and examples intended to reduce confusion about when a clerk must act.

The rules propose a definition of "reliable information" (a term used by the NVRA) and give a non‑exhaustive list of items that qualify. "One of the biggest changes with that is we are considering we are adding in here a consideration that a voter's failure to vote for 20 years or more is reliable information that you no longer live at that address," Fercasse said. Under the bureau's proposal, reaching the 20‑year threshold would trigger a cancellation notice and start the NVRA timetable that gives a voter two federal election cycles (four years) to respond or…