ACLU Questions Possible Illegal Purging Of Ypsi Township Voters From The Rolls

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 01/28/2026) The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan believes the Ypsilanti Township clerk may have “wrongly purged” as many as 200 citizens from its voter rolls.

The ACLU said in a Tuesday letter to Clerk Debbie Swanson that they have communication from Swanson’s office indicating that voters were purged when mail sent to their home was returned as undeliverable.

Rather, the ACLU said, the National Voter Registration Act and Michigan law require that those voters be placed in “challenged status” for two federal election cycles.

“Both state and federal law set out clear rules to protect voters from being purged simply because a piece of their mail is returned, ACLU senior staff attorney Phil Mayor said. “As this situation demonstrates, without these protections in place, there is a severe risk of voters being disenfranchised due to no fault of their own.”

Swanson told MIRS Wednesday afternoon that she has received the ACLU's letter and “we are looking into the concerns that were raised and look forward to working with the ACLU on this matter.”

The ACLU’s letter outlines the experience of one Ypsilanti Township voter who said she had been illegally removed from the voter rolls after an absentee ballot and a follow-up notice, both mailed to her from the clerk's office, were returned as undeliverable.

The voter was living at the township address at the time and said that a problem with the post office interrupted mail delivery.

According to the letter, data shows that the township recorded an exceptionally high rate of cancellations related to absentee ballots during the 2025 August primary and general election. For example, of the 400 absentee ballots rejected statewide for this reason, 125 – more than 30% – came from Ypsilanti Township.

The letter, which is copied to the Secretary of State and Bureau of Elections, alerts the clerk to what is potentially a significant systemic problem, asks the clerk to review all cancellations that have occurred since she took office in 2025, and restore the voting rights of every person illegally purged.

The letter also includes a Freedom of Information Act request for records that the ACLU said may provide further insight.