Misleading: Michigan Voter Roll Purge
The Claim
Michigan, a swing state in the 2020 election, removed 170,000 from its voter reel; this caused then-candidate Joe Biden to win the state.
News posted on
Emerging story
After a legal battle with the Honest Elections Project, the state of Michigan purged about 177,000 voters from its voter rolls. In the 2020 presidential election, Biden won Michigan by about 155,000 votes. Many conservative websites wrote about it, some of which have described the development as “breaking news.” It was shared on social media, where some insinuated that Trump would have won the state had said voters been purged beforehand.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation found that there’s nothing significant or telling about this purge of voters. They were inactive during the election, meaning that they didn’t vote. Many of them have moved out of the state or otherwise removed themselves from being eligible to vote in future elections.
Overall, this is a routine measure and not something that would affect the election. In fact, the issue was brought up in 2019. The state simply didn’t remove them from the official voter rolls, even though they couldn’t have voted. This may make voter data more accurate, but it certainly doesn’t affect the outcome of the election. Many articles written on the subject have misleading headlines, but most acknowledge in the body of the article that said voters were inactive.
